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Making  Good  in 

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Ernest  Eugene  Elliott 

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THE  UNIVERSITY 
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LIBRARY 

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MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE 
LOCAL  CHURCH 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


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o^/vv/ae. 


MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE 
LOCAL  CHURCH 


By 

ERNEST  EUGENE  ELLIOTT 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1913,  by 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York : 158  Fifth  Avenue 

Chicago:  125  North  Wabash  A ve. 
Toronto;  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London : 21  Paternoster  Square 

Edinburgh  : 100  Princes  Street 


^PP.22-36 


PREFACE 


2,U>\ 


/I 


IHE  aim  of  these  studies  and  the  Writer’s 


conception  of  the  tasks  to  be  accomplished 


are  pretty  fully  set  forth  in  the  introduc- 
tory paragraphs,  and  that  discussion  need  not  be 
repeated  here. 

It  is  with  considerable  hesitancy  that  one  un- 
dertakes to  point  out  the  method  of  a practical 
application  of  modern  principles  to  the  work  of 
the  Church.  Religious  workers  as  a rule  have  a 
natural  prejudice  against  attempts  to  apply  world- 
ly methods,  though  modern,  to  the  work  of  the 
Church,  and  this  feeling  is  so  strong  on  the  part 
of  many  that  one  almost  seems  to  proclaim  him- 
self a reformer  indeed  when  he  attempts  to  draw 
practical  inferences  as  in  these  studies  and  to 
make  these  inferences  generally  and  quickly  ap- 
plicable. 

What  is  written  here  is  based  soberly  upon  the 
whole  broad  range  of  religious  activities  though 
making  no  appeal  to  the  ideal,  but  contrarily  hopes 
to  set  forth  in  practical  fashion  suggestions  that 
may  be  immediately  effective  in  every  local  church. 
There  is  no  intent  on  the  writer’s  part  to  be  tech- 
nical in  any  regard,  nor  profess  to  embody  the  re- 
sults of  far  reaching  original  investigation.  This 
treatment  does  distinctly  aim  to  make  immediately 
available  the  most  valuable  suggestions  for  local 


5 


940384 


6 


PEEFACE 


church  operation  that  can  be  drawn  from  the  re- 
sults of  the  best  workers  in  the  religious  world. 

The  term  ‘‘making  good”  is  so  expressive  and  so 
popular  that  the  author  could  not  refrain  from 
using  it.  My  plan  of  handling  the  subject  as  I 
have  makes  my  indebtedness  to  others  very  large, 
and  yet  it  would  be  very  difficult  for  me  to  recog- 
nize in  each  case,  or  by  special  reference,  such  in- 
debtedness. 

What  I have  tried  to  keep  constantly  in  mind 
has  been  the  practical  application  of  all  that  is 
herein  contained  to  the  work  of  the  individual  con- 
gregation, and  this  is  the  one  problem  of  the  en- 
tire treatment. 

The  three  topics  under  which  the  general  theme 
has  been  divided — I.  Spiritual  Efficiency ; II. 
Business  Efficiency;  III.  Soul  Winning  Efficien- 
cy, are  the  outgrowth  of  a series  of  jLddresses  de- 
livered before  Ministerial  Associations,  in  college 
centers  and  a number  of  our  principal  cities,  and 
this  problem  was  constantly  in  mind  in  a number 
of  years  of  travel  and  study;  while  much  of  the 
substance  was  given  in  these  addresses,  the  ma- 
terial herein  presented  has  been  entirely  restudied 
and  the  treatment  much  extended  in  order  to  deal 
somewhat  more  adequately  with  the  wide  range  of 
questions  necessarily  raised.  I can  but  hope  that 
I have  not  quite  failed  to  do  justice  to  the  impor- 
tance of  my  theme  and  that  what  is  here  said 
crudely  may  impel  Church  Officers,  Brotherhood 


PKEFACE 


1 


and  Bible  Class  Officers,  Men  in  the  Pew,  and  Min- 
isters, to  a more  thoughtful  appreciation  of  the 
complexities  of  the  local  congregation  and  the  ne- 
cessity for  an  adequate  handling  of  its  duties  and 
responsibilities  on  the  part  of  every  member,  in 
order  to  “make  good”  in  the  local  church. 

Ernest  Eugene  Elliott. 


CONTENTS 


I. 

Spiritual  Efficiency, 

• 

. 11 

II. 

Business  Efficiency, 

• 

CO 

III. 

Soul  Winning  Efficiency, 

. 67 

I 

SPIRITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


IT  is  the  writer’s  purpose  to  show  that  the 
church  is  spiritually  ineflftcient,  but  may  be- 
come spiritually  efficient  by  returning  to  the 
primitive  methods  employed  by  Christ.  One  of  my 
good  friends,  in  an  advance  criticism  of  these  ad- 
dresses, said : “A  good  physician  spends  very  little 
time  in  telling  a patient  how  sick  he  is.  A phy- 
sician’s success  is  in  talking  health.”  However, 
causes  of  illness  must  be  avoided  if  we  hope  for 
lasting  recovery,  hence  I have  dealt  with  the 
causes,  as  well  as  conditions,  leading  up  to  spirit- 
ual inefficiency  in  the  local  church. 

The  church  is  spiritually  inef- 
ficient ; in  the  first  place,  because 
of  the  way  in  which  many  of  the  of- 
ficers  of  the  churches  are  selected.  A survey  of 
the  ordinary  board  of  officers  would  show  a group 
of  a dozen  men  selected  from  among  their  fellows 
to  preside  over  the  destinies  of  the  congregation 
because  of  peculiar  qualifications,  some  of  which 
are  as  follows: 

Mr.  A.  was  selected  as  an  elder  because  he  is 
past  sixty  years  old,  has  gray  hair,  and  carries 
himself  with  dignity. 

Mr.  B.  is  a brother-in-law  of  Mr.  A.,  and  is  se- 
ll 


12  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHLTICH 


lected  to  please  Mr.  A.  (The  latter  being  one  of 
the  largest  contributors.) 

Mr.  C.  has  not  been  taking  much  interest  in  the 
church,  and  is  chosen  a deacon  to  “stimulate  his 
interest.” 

And  so  on  throughout  the  list.  Only  inciden- 
tally has  a man  been  chosen  because  he  answers  the 
scriptural  requirements  of  an  elder  or  a deacon. 
In  some  cases,  church  officers  have  inherited  their 
offices,  which  fit  them  much  like  inherited  clothes. 
Let  us  cease  selecting  officers  for  such  reasons  only 
and  begin  to  follow  the  scriptures  first,  and  con- 
sider other  reasons  later.  The  church  will  then 
begin  to  prosper.  Official  Boards  of  churches 
should  plan  for,  co-ordinate,  and  oversee  all  the 
work  of  the  congregation.  That  is  their  business 
chiefly  and  exclusively.  Because  of  their  neglect 
to  do  so,  the  church  is  sick,  and  the  work  of  the 
congregation  is  limping  alone  without  adequate 
executive  direction  and  in  many  churches  this  is  due 
to  the  way  in  which  officers  have  been  selected. 

In  the  matter  of  the  selection  of 
officers  of  our  churches,  there  is 
often  a mistaken  understanding. 
In  the  Jerusalem  church  lack  of  organization  was 
supplied  in  the  beginning  by  the  Apostles.  Theo- 
retically the  Apostles  were  chosen  as  representa- 
tives of  the  church  because  they  were  fitted  to  be- 
come the  leaders  and  teachers  of  the  church,  and 
so  were  authorized  at  first  to  discharge  these  func- 


WHT  HAVE 
OFFZCEES 


SPIRITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


18 


tions.  In  this  case,  especially  before  the  church 
itself  was  established,  the  Apostles  did  not  affect 
its  permanent  organization.  Seven  were  chosen  to 
superintend  the  benevolent  work  of  the  church. 
It  is  significant  that  no  title  is  applied  to  their  of- 
fice. Many  interpreters  hold  that  they  were  Dea- 
cons, others  that  they  were  Elders,  and  still  others, 
that  they  were  neither  Elders  nor  Deacons  but  a 
committee  chosen  to  attend  to  a work  that  could 
be  administered  neither  by  the  individual  member 
nor  by  the  entire  church. 

Thus  the  precedent  for  officers  of  congregations 
was  established  in  apostolic  times.  Later  accord- 
ing to  our  historians,  when  the  Apostles  were  ban- 
ished, Elders  were  selected,  but  it  should  be  noted 
that  Elders  are  not  mentioned  until  at  the  end  of 
fifteen  years  of  prosperous  history.  The  book  of 
Acts  refers  many  times  to  the  Elders  but  does  not 
even  mention  Deacons  and  all  through  the  New 
Testament  the  work  of  Elders  is  very  clearly 
defined,  especially  in  the  writings  of  Paul,  the  El- 
ders are  mentioned  frequently  and  at  times  are 
called  Bishops.  The  infrequent  mention  of  of- 
ficers in  the  primitive  church  is  not  to  be  taken  as 
indicating  that  the  church  held  the  matter  of  of- 
ficers of  little  importance  for  as  time  passed  there 
is  an  increase  in  the  frequency  of  their  mention 
showing  a growirg  sense  of  the  need  of  them  in 
the  church.  D the  early  church  neither  the  na- 
ture of  the  oiiice  nor  the  method  of  selecting  the 


14  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  OHUKCH 


oflacers  were  rigidly  fixed.  But  as  time  passed  a 
settled  policy  was  adopted  and  from  that  day  to 
this  it  became  usual  if  not  a uniform  custom  for 
each  church  to  have  both  Elders  and  Deacons. 

All  through  the  Jewish  dispensation  every  Jew- 
ish community  had  its  Elders,  both  for  the  syna- 
gogues and  for  the  communities  themselves.  The 
same  title  was  given  to  the  rulers  of  Egyptian  vil- 
lages and  to  the  priests  of  the  Egyptian  religion, 
and  the  name  Elder  was  familiar  as  an  oflScial  title  - 
in  every  region  where  Christianity  was  carried 
during  its  early  years.  During  the  first  century 
of  the  Christian  era  in  all  parts  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire there  were  societies  or  guilds  innumerable, 
and  for  almost  every  conceivable  purpose,  and  one 
of  a variety  of  names  given  their  ofl&cers  was  the 
one  of  Elder. 


THE 

DEACONS 


We  have  no  clear  light  upon  tfie 
reason  for  the  choice  of  Deacons 
and  their  connection  with  any  pre- 
vious oflSce  cannot  be  traced.  It  is  reasonably  cer- 
tain however  that  this  was  a new  creation  of  the 
church  to  meet  some  actual  need.  The  New  Tes- 
tament does  not  make  clear  the  division  of  labor 
between  tihe  Elder  and  the  Deacon  and  the  two  are 
so  closely  related  that  they  are  usually  mentioned 
in  conjunction.  It  is  evident  that  the  Elders  were 
entrusted  with  the  administra’we  work  of  the 
church  and  the  Deacons  were  the  ."es  who  did  the 
work  of  ministering.  The  Deacon  was  therefore  a 


SPIKITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


15 


sort  of  junior  elder,  and  as  years  and  experience 
came  to  him  he  was  promoted  to  that  office.  The 
eldership  was  therefore  the  primary  office.  So 
long  as  the  tribe  was  the  unit  of  society  the  elder 
had  no  difficulty  in  discharging  his  functions. 

The  structure  of  modern  society  however  is  not 
according  to  the  tribal  plan  and  in  almost  every 
civilized  nation  there  has  been  a complete  drift 
away  from  the  ancient  order  and  with  this  the 
eldership  has  suffered.  In  the  strict  meaning  of 
the  term  the  elder  has  no  place  in  modern  society 
and  as  for  the  church  the  present  day  elder  is  but 
a shadow  of  his  predecessor  of  Antioch  and  Jeru- 
salem times.  In  other  words  our  elders  today  are 
not  really  elders  at  all,  and  we  have  adjusted  our 
church  affairs  to  this  fact  although  the  church  at 
large  is  not  conscious  of  it.  In  a few  cases  coming 
to  the  writers  attention  in  some  recent  investiga- 
tions the  name  “elder”  has  been  retained  but  the 
office  has  been  divested  of  its  dignity  and  power. 
This  is  the  case  in  the  majority  of  our  American 
churches.  It  is  true  that  in  the  Christian  Church 
our  elders  preside  at  the  Lord’s  table  and  sit  with 
others  in  a meeting  to  transact  the  business  of  the 
church.  They  are  in  fact  simply  members  of  a 
Committee  that  directs  the  affairs  of  the  congre- 
gation, and  it  is  argued  that  there  remains  at  the 
present  time  little  reason  why  we  should  have  two 
ranks  in  our  official  board.  We  learn  that  in  the 
Disciples’  Churches  in  Australia  they  have  almost 


16  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


ceased  to  elect  elders  for  the  reason  that  when  elec- 
ted these  men  have  attempted  to  be  elders  in  fact 
as  well  as  in  name. 

The  church  that  chooses  elders  follows  the  Di- 
vine Pattern  and  this  is  no  argument  against  the 
official  position  or  title  of  the  eldership.  What  I 
am  attempting  to  say  however  is  that  a great  many 
American  Churches  are  paying  so  little  attention 
to  the  question  of  choice  of  officers  that  the  offi- 
ciary of  our  churches  has  degenerated  until  at  the 
present  time  were  it  not  for  the  struggling  minis- 
try hundreds  of  our  Protestant  Churches  would 
really  close  their  doors  for  lack  of  leadership.  We 
need  to  call  our  people  to  a return  to  the  Divine 
Pattern  for  the  selection  of  church  officers  used  in 
the  early  days  of  the  church  when  men  were  sought 
after  and  set  aside  to  be  real  leaders  of  the  thought 
and  effort  of  the  local  congregation  and  conse- 
crated through  ordination  to  the  work. 

However,  the  secret  of  the  trouble 

TiTTTTES 

OF  OFEICEKS  always  in  the  way  the  officers 

are  chosen.  The  officers  of  a church 
may  be  selected  with  the  utmost  scriptural  care, 
and  still  unhealthy  conditions  of  life  and  activity 
within  the  church  will  prevail.  Boards  of  Officers 
should  study  their  congregational  work  with  as 
much  care  as  the  directors  of  a railway  corpora- 
tion give  to  the  management  of  their  great  pro- 
perty, and  should  place  at  their  own  doors  all  re- 
sponsibility for  lethargy  and  inaction.  The  first 


SPIKITUAL  EFFICIENCY  ' 17 

anxiety  of  the  ofilcers  should  he  an  efficient  con- 
gregation. So  long  as  the  congregation  is  not  ef- 
ficient, it  is  valueless.  The  example  the  Board  sets 
before  the  congregation  often  leads  the  congrega- 
tion into  activity  and  inspires  its  members  for 
their  life  work.  The  congregation  is  thus  spirit- 
ually dependent  upon  the  Board  of  Officers  in  a 
larger  degree  than  upon  the  minister.  Wherever 
you  find  a spiritually  aggressive,  broad-visioned 
Official  Board,  made  up  of  men  who  love  God  and 
man,  and  consecrated  to  Christian  Service,  you 
can  look  for  a congregation  of  similar  character. 

On  the  other  hand,  where  you  find  the  Official 
Board  worldly,  inconsistent,  indifferent,  with  no 
love  for  God  or  man,  the  congregation  will  be 
found  to  be  of  the  same  sort.  A sick  church  gen- 
erally has  sickness  in  the  official  family.  Congre- 
gational cures,  like  spiritual  revivals,  generally 
begin  in  the  meetings  of  the  officers  of  the  church. 
To  change  the  figure,  if  the  fuel  there  is  water- 
soaked,  the  flame  is  very  apt  to  be  checked.  What 
I am  attempting  to  say  is,  that  the  Board  of  Of- 
ficers of  the  Church,  as  the  united  head  of  the  con- 
gregation, largely  determines  the  life,  spirit,  and 
efficiency  of  the  whole  congregation.  Spiritual 
leadership  always  has  a spiritual  following. 
Neither  the  leadership  nor  the  following  is  ac- 
quired quickly.  Time  is  necessary  for  the  growth 
of  spiritual  things.  Great  obstacles  have  to  be 
overcome,  but  if  our  Churches  are  to  be  more  effi- 


18  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


CHTTKCH 

attendance 


cient  God  must  be  in  the  lives  and  hearts  of  our  of- 
ficers more  abundantly. 

The  second  place  for  the  church 
to  increase  spiritual  efficiency  is  in 
the  matter  of  attendance  upon 
church  services.  It  is  said  that  in  America,  the 
country  over,  less  than  forty  per  cent,  of  the  mem- 
bers of  Prostestant  congregations  will  be  found  at 
any  one  service  of  the  church.  Some  attend 
through  prejudice,  superstition  or  habit,  while 
others  (and  I verily  believe  the  larger  portion  are 
these)  attend  the  services  of  the  church  because  it 
is  a delight  and  a privilege  to  be  there.  We  ought 
to  train  our  members  to  feel  that  the  visit  to 
‘‘God’s  House”  carries  with  it  an  affection  and  re- 
spect which  pays  an  obligation  of  kinship. 

Whenever  church  attendance  degenerates  into  a 
mere  habit,  without  any  spiritual  significance,  it 
might  as  well  be  given  up  altogether.  This  may  be 
the  real  “reason  why”  only  forty  per  cent,  of  the 
members  attend  the  services.  In  my  judgment  it 
is  much  worse  to  go  to  church  with  an  insincere 
motive  than  not  to  go  to  church  at  all.  The  re- 
lationship to  God  should  be  a mutual  one,  and  a 
thing  to  rejoice  in,  but  the  relationship  of  many  a 
regular  church-goer  to  God  is  anything  but  that. 
While  many  of  us  go  to  church  with  a great  deal 
of  spiritual  desire,  many  others  go  half-heartedly; 
some  go  unwillingly,  some  from  a sense  of  duty; 
some  from  fear — fear  of  God’s  displeasure  or  of 


SPIRITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


19 


their  neighbor’s  ill  opinion  if  they  remain  away; 
while  a large  number  go  to  church  purely  from 
habit.  And  I would  call  your  attention  to  the 
fact  that,  all  told,  those  who  regularly  attend 
church  from  whatever  motive,  represent  only  forty 
per  cent,  of  the  membership  of  the  congregation. 

Some  say  it  is  because  the  age  is  materialistic. 
To  this  it  may  be  replied  that  the  age  is  no  more 
materialistic  than  the  first  century  when  the  Gos- 
pel stirred  the  world.  They  say  the  church  has 
ceased  to  thrill,  while  the  theater  is  stirring  the 
hearts  of  thousands.  It  is  a common  complaint 
that  the  pews  are  becoming  more  and  more 
vacant,  while  both  young  and  old  are  developing 
tastes  for  the  play-house.  Is  it  because  the  soul 
satisfies  its  spiritual  cravings  at  the  theater,  and 
does  not  satisfy  this  great  desire  at  the  church? 
Some  say  this  is  so,  and  some  of  our  churches  evi- 
dently think  so,  because  they  are  adopting  theatri- 
cal methods  and  devices  in  their  services  in  an  at- 
tempt to  turn  the  tide. 

The  preachers  of  such  churches  put  on  theatri- 
cal airs,  and  adopt  modes  of  speech  of  an  enter- 
taining character.  Operatic  music,  sometimes 
good  but  oftener  poor,  and  a sort  of  “stage  oratory” 
complete  the  equipment.  All  this  is  more  or  less 
common  in  the  so-called  “up-to-date”  churches. 
But  these  devices,  however  clever,  are  not  turning 
the  stream  of  spiritually  hungry  humanity  into 
the  doors  of  our  churches.  The  secret  lies  deeper 


20  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHTJECH 


than  the  character  of  the  services.  It  lies  in  the 
spiritual  development  of  the  individual  Christian. 

When  Christians  are  truly  converted  they  real- 
ize that  they  are  called  to  serve  the  Master,  instead 
of  being  invited  to  attach  themselves  to  a society, 
the  formality  of  which  means  little  or  nothing  to 
the  life  of  the  individual.  Through  the  develop- 
ment of  Christian  character,  then,  and  through 
that  alone,  can  the  church  hope  for  an  improve- 
ment in  the  matter  of  attendance  upon  the  serv- 
ices of  the  church. 

A well  know  charity  worker  recently  said : 'Per- 
sons who  stop  going  to  church  very  soon  stop  giv- 
ing to  charity.”  I would  like  to  parapharse  that 
statement  in  this  wise : “People  who  stop  going  to 
church  very  soon  cease  to  be  Christians.”  There 
is  now  great  need  of  a revival  of  church  attend- 
ance, but  the  place  to  begin  with  is  not  with  the 
masses,  but  rather  with  the  professed  Christian 
who  is  absenting  himself  from  the  services  of  the 
King. 


KEED  or 

PEATEK 


The  third  lack  in  the  efficiency  of 
the  church  is  that  of  prayer.  I am 
persuaded  that  a careful  inquiry 
would  reveal  the  startling  condition  that  many 
Christians  never  pray,  either  in  public  or  in  private. 
Our  Prayer  Meetings  are  often  almost  devoid  of 
prayer.  Many  officers  of  the  church  cannot,  or  do 
not,  pray  in  public,  and  to  call  upon  them  for  pub- 
lic prayer  would  visibly  embarrass  them.  Most  of 


SPIEITTJAL  EFFICIENCY 


21 


our  homes  do  not  have  family  worship,  and  many 
of  them  even  fail  to  have  “Grace  before  meat.’’ 
Prayer  circles  in  our  churches  are  practically  un- 
known, and  many  Christians  will  not  obligate 
themselves  to  pray  daily  for  the  progress  of  the 
Kingdom.  Some  say  they  do  not  believe  in  prayer. 
They  might  just  as  well  say  they  do  not  believe  in 
the  tide,  for  the  tide  will  continue  to  flow  whether 
they  believe  in  it  or  not,  and  prayer  is  the  eter- 
nal turning  of  the  tide  of  man  toward  God. 

There  needs  to  be  a return  to  prayer,  both  pri- 
vate and  public,  on  the  part  of  professed  followers 
of  Christ,  before  any  improvement  in  the  spirit- 
uality of  the  church  will  manifest  itself.  When  we 
begin  to  pray  about  the  affairs  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ  in  real,  “dead”  earnest,  we  will  begin  to 
take  off  our  coats  and  go  to  work  to  bring  an  an- 
swer to  our  prayers.  We  will  not  utter  real  prayer 
for  a thing  we  will  not  work  to  bring  about.  When 
every  Christian  is  a praying  Christian,  when  every 
Christian  home  has  Bible  readings  and  prayer  in  it 
daily,  the  church  cannot  but  grow  in  spiritual  zeal 
and  power. 


The  fourth  improvement  that  the 

INCIIEASS 

IN  CONFESSIONS  might  profitably  make  is  an 

increase  in  men  and  women  confess- 
ing Christ.  All  over  America  comparatively  few 
men  have  confessed  his  name.  Recent  statistics 
show  the  church  is  actually  standing  still,  so  far 
as  accessions  are  concerned.  The  population  of 


22  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 

America  increased  two  per  cent,  last  year,  while 
the  membership  in  Evangelical  churches  increased 
one  and  four  fifths  per  cent.  The  Prostestant 
Church  membership  in  America  is  approximately 
twenty-two  million,  while  the  net  increase  last  year 
was  only  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 

The  Southern  Baptists  at  their  1912  Convention 
held  in  Oklahoma  City  reported  a membership  of 
2,420,203  and  baptisms  administered  during  the 
year  132,936,  an  increase  of  barely  6%.  The  1913 
Year  Book  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  shows  a 
net  increase  in  membership  for  the  three  years  end- 
ing with  their  1912  Convention  held  in  Louisville 
18,656  from  9,905  congregations  or  an  average  of 
less  than  one  addition  per  congregation  per  year 
for  the  past  three  years.  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  with  28,458  churches  and  18,988  ministers 
and  3,543,589  communicants  (including  foreign 
field)  had  a net  increase  in  1911  of  only  48,000. 
This  was  accomplished  by  the  use  of  church  pro- 
perty valued  at  $183,542,603.00  They  also  report 
35,445  Sunday  Schools  and  3,567,548  scholars. 

The  British  Wesleyan  Church,  the  mother  of  all 
Methodism,  has  been  experiencing  in  company 
with  many  other  denominations,  a decline  in  its 
numerical  strength.  Beginning  with  1907  it  has 
had  six  successive  decreases  in  membership,  aver- 
aging about  2,000  a year.  Of  its  781  circuits  and 
stations,  361  show  a net  increase,  365  a net  de- 
crease, and  55  no  change.  Emigration  to  Amer- 


SPIKITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


23 


ica,  Australia,  and  other  countries  probably  ac- 
counts in  part  for  the  diminution  in  numbers.  The 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  at  its  May  Assem- 
bly, 1912,  reports  an  increase  of  5,070  communi- 
cants making  a total  membership  of  202,845. 

The  Northern  Presbyterian  Church  had  an  in- 
crease of  25,605  members  bringing  their  total  mem- 
bership to  1,380,058  the  increase  being  less  than 
2%.  Of  9,935  churches  reporting  to  the  General 
Assembly  3,739  reported  no  net  additions,  4,086 
reported  additions  1 to  10,  and  1,500  of  11  to  25. 
The  Committee  on  Evangelistic  Work  regarded 
this  condition  as  very  unsatisfactory.  The  Church 
has  9,274  ministers  with  10,030  churches,  and 
1,232,847  scholars  in  their  Sunday  Schools.  The 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  is  said  to  be  growing 
steadily  although  figures  in  substantiation  of  this 
claim  are  lacking.  The  present  membership  in 
America  is  stated  to  be  947,320  in  7,621  churches, 
served  by  5,359  ministers. 


Were  it  not  for  being  accused  of 
making  an  invidious  comparison  it 
might  be  well  here  to  mention  the 


COST  OP 
CHTJBOHES 


fact  of  cost  of  buildings  and  equipment  of  some  of 
our  modern  church  edifices.  The  Cathedral  of  St. 
John  the  Divine,  located  on  Morningside  Heights, 
New  York  City,  now  progressing  toward  comple- 
tion is  to  cost  in  the  aggregate  for  chapels  alone 
above  $1,000,000.  Other  Church  Edifices  in  New 
York,  Chicago,  San  Francisco,  and  in  almost  every 


24  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


leading  city  of  America  cost  six  figures  alone  to 
build,  and  the  upkeep  and  maintenance  of  an  or- 
ganization in  these  expensive  institutions  is  of  suf- 
ficient proportions  to  at  least  invite  thought  from 
the  discriminating  minds  who  are  making  a study 
of  the  problem  of  the  church  especially  with  regard 
to  its  units  of  cost  as  compared  to  its  units  of  effi- 
ciency. 

jgji  The  Eoman  Catholic  Church  is 

CATHOiiC  said  to  be  growing  by  reason  of  im- 
CHUB.CH  migration  and  otherwise.  It  re- 

ports at  the  beginning  of  1912,  the  date  of  the 
latest  statistics,  15,015,569  population  (population 
includes  all  baptized  persons  who  have  not  been 
excummunicated).  According  to  the  rule  adopted 
many  years  ago  for  estimating  the  ‘‘population” 
the  net  gain  for  1911  was  337,287.  They  report 
13,939  churches  and  missions  with  17,491  clergy. 
The  average  number  of  communicants  per  clergy- 
man in  the  Catholic  Church  is  nearly  730  while  in 
the  largest  Prostestant  Church,  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal, it  is  only  168.  There  are  in  America  more 
than  221,000  churches  Protestant  and  Catholic 
served  by  172,500  ministry.  What  a tremendous 
force  for  Evangelism  if  properly  inspired  and  di- 
rected. 

The  particular  feature  of  soul-winning  is  treated 
separately  in  the  third  chapter  entitled  “Soul- 
Winning,”  hence  the  treatment  in  this  paper  will 
be  brief.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  church  must 


SPIEITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


25 


A FREE 
MINISTRY 


hold  its  own  with  the  march  of  human  progress  in 
America  by  a return  to  individual  evangelism, 
which  was  the  basis  of  Christ’s  work  when  he  was 
here  upon  earth,  and  must  ever  continue  to  be  the 
condition  governing  the  spiritual  growth  of  the 
church.  In  other  words,  the  church  must  begin 
the  spiritual  regeneration  of  the  individual,  for  its 
delay  in  this  regard  is  the  basic  cause  of  all  the 
ineffectiveness  we  are  deploring  today. 

Another  highly  important  lack  of 
the  church  in  the  attainment  of 
spiritual  efficiency  is  that  of  min- 
isters unhampered  with  business  affairs.  Their 
time  and  talents  should  be  free  for  the  assuming  of 
aggressive,  spiritual  leadership.  The  minister 
should  not  be  the  general  manager  of  the  congre- 
gation, or,  as  my  little  boy  very  aptly  says, ‘‘the  boss 
of  the  church,”  as  he  often  is  today.  He  must  not 
be  held  responsible  for  the  physical  condition  of  the 
building.  If  the  plant  is  not  in  proper  order  when 
the  time  for  services  arrives,  if  the  seats  are  dusty, 
the  floor  soiled,  the  room  too  hot  or  too  cold,  the  ven- 
tilation bad,  or  the  lights  not  trimmed  and  burning, 
or  if  anything  else  in  the  janitor’s  realm  is  wrong, 
the  preacher  is  often  the  one  to  bear  the  blame. 
And  if  the  clerk,  the  treasurer,  the  Sunday  School 
Superintendent,  and  other  officers  of  the  various 
agencies  of  the  church  fail  to  do  their  duty,  nine 
times  out  of  ten  the  minister  is  expected  to  take 
the  responsibility. 


26  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


Whenever  committees  ‘‘fall  down”  the  poor  min- 
ister is  usually  charged  with  the  fault  and  cen- 
sured accordingly.  He  is  expected  to  visit  regu- 
larly and  systematically  all  members  of  the  congre- 
gation, sick  or  well,  instead  of  merely  doing  his 
legitimate  service  of  ministering  to  the  sick  and 
the  sorrowing,  burying  the  dead,  and  marrying  the 
young  folks.  Brethren,  these  things  ought  not  so 
to  be.  The  church  must  learn  to  care  for  its  ma- 
terial welfare  without  calling  upon  the  minister  to 
do  that  work.  Let  that  pack  be  shouldered  by  the 
deacons.  Let  the  men  of  the  church  take  hold  and 
make  the  material  affairs  of  the  church  go,  but  let 
us  hold  our  ministers  responsible  for  leadership  in 
its  spiritual  affairs. 

To  be  a great  spiritual  leader,  a minister  must 
spend  time  with  God  as  well  as  with  man;  and  as 
the  first  great  requisite  of  a minister  is  that  he  be 
a preacher  first  of  all,  it  is  essential  that  he  should 
be  relieved  of  the  round  of  social  and  business 
duties  that  tie  the  hand  of  many  ministers  at  pre- 
sent. When  this  is  done,  as  outlined  in  the  second 
paper  on  “Business  Efl&ciency,”  we  may  look  for  a 
spiritual  leadership  in  the  ministry,  the  like  of 
which  we  have  not  had  since  the  days  of  the  Apos- 
tles. 


MISSIONS  AND 


The  condition  of  the  Missionary 

BENEVOLENCES  Benevolent  enterprises  of  the 

church  is  a pretty  good  spiritual 
thermometer  for  the  local  congregation.  Nothing 


SPIRITUAL  EFPICIENCY 


27 


SO  weakens  the  spiritual  life  of  the  local  church  as 
failure  to  have  fellowship  in  sending  the  gospel  of 
peace,  mercy,  and  helpfulness  to  those  who  have  it 
not. 

Just  what  is  the  situation  as  regards  the  Mis- 
sionary and  Benevolent  Enterprise  of  the  Protest- 
ant Church?  The  Southern  Baptist  at  their  An- 
nual Convention  held  in  Oklahoma  City,  in  1912, 
reported  Home  Mission  Receipts  |366,050,  and  for 
Foreign  Missions  $580,408,  or  a total  $946,458  from 
a membership  claimed  to  be  2,421,203,  or  an  aver- 
age of  forty  cents  per  member  for  both  Home  and 
Foreign  Missions. 

The  Disciples  of  Christ  1913  Year  Book  reports 
offerings  for  Missions  during  1912  of  $1,281,908 
from  1,347,212  communicants,  a little  less  than  one 
dollar  per  member.  Others  could  be  given  but 
this  is  sufficient  for  the  purposes  desired.  Some 
few  Protestant  denominations  have  higher  aver- 
ages but  their  membership  is  decidedly  smaller 
than  the  two  communions  quoted  above.  Some 
denominations  are  not  large  enough  to  support  a 
society  of  their  own  but  almost  every  important 
denomination  has  missions  and  missionaries  in 
foreign  fields  and  likewise  carry  on  a mission  prop- 
aganda upon  the  frontier  and  in  the  rural  com- 
munities and  in  the  larger  cities  of  the  Homeland. 

At  the  close  of  1911  the  Protestant  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Work,  according  to  the  American  Year 
Book  for  1912,  required  for  its  support  $25,297,000. 


28  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 

This  annual  expenditure  is  for  the  support  of 
more  than  22,000  missionaries  and  upwards  of 
88,500  native  preachers  and  helpers.  Of  the  an- 
nual budget  of  more  than  $25,000,000  only  a little 
more  than  one  half  is  raised  by  the  United  States 
and  Canada,  or  an  average  of  about  50  cents  per 
member  from  the  Protestant  Church  at  large  for 
the  support  of  the  work  abroad.  An  extended  dis- 
cussion of  the  situation  abroad  would  require  more 
space  than  is  available  and  is  likewise  entitled  to 
a larger  consideration,  but  the  immensity  of  the 
task  will  I am  sure  be  gathered  from  the  brief 
statement  above. 

With  all  our  membership,  with  all  our  magnifi- 
cient  church  edifices,  with  all  our  172,500  min- 
isters in  221,000  churches,  with  all  our  Sunday 
Schools,  with  all  our  Sunday  School  Officers  and 
Teachers,  we  have  been  so  busy  with  the  machinery 
of  our  local  congregations  that  we  have  failed  to 
adequately  extend  the  Kingdom  abroad.  The  idea 
of  Missionary  Committees  in  Churches,  Sunday 
Schools,  and  Sunday  School  Classes,  the  establish- 
ment of  Mission  Study  Classes  and  Groups,  the  en- 
listment of  Men’s  Brotherhoods,  and  the  ‘‘every 
member  canvass”  in  local  churches  gives  great 
promise  of  a change  along  missionary  and  benevo- 
lent lines. 

Such  movements  as  the  Missionary  Education 
Movement,  the  Payments  Missionary  Movement, 
and  the  United  Missionary  Educational  Campaign 


SPIEITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


29 


of  the  Denominational  Boards  which  is  being  or- 
ganized as  these  lines  are  written,  are  all  doing 
much  to  give  the  local  church  a missionary  vision 
and  with  this  vision  will  come  missionary  life. 
These  movements  are  sowing  the  local  churches 
deep  with  missionary  literature  and  are  fast  de- 
veloping congregations  with  a desire  to  live  not 
for  themselves  but  for  others. 

Some  churches  like  some  people  are  lop-sided  in 
a missionary  way.  Some  are  enthusiasts  for  For- 
eign Missions  while  Home  Missions  are  neglected. 
Some  otherwise  good  Christians  support  Home 
Missions  but  not  Foreign.  In  my  judgment  neither 
the  mission  of  the  church  at  home  nor  abroad  has 
been  sufficiently  stressed.  This  has  been  especially 
true  of  mission  work  in  the  great  cities. 

In  the  cities  we  must  do  mission 
work  in  a way  that  will  appeal  both 
to  the  minds  and  to  the  pocketbooks 
of  serious  Christian  people.  The  churches  must 
stop  moving  out  of  the  congested  portions  of  the 
cities,  leaving  these  teeming  thousands  without  the 
Gospel,  a prey  to  wickedness.  Hardly  a city  of 
any  importance  in  America  but  has  such  districts, 
and  the  church  must  open  its  eyes  to  the  situation 
and  spend  more  money  for  equipment  in  such  dis- 
tricts, and  less  money  for  churches  in  residence 
sections.  The  spirit  of  loyality  to  the  individual 
congregation  must  not  stifle  our  responsibility  for 
the  extension  of  the  Kingdom  elsewhere  in  the 


CITY 

MISSIONS 


30  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


Homeland.  The  work  of  Home  Missions  must  not 
be  curtailed  year  after  year,  nor  should  our 
churches  at  home  cease  to  buy  lots  and  build 
churches  to  care  for  our  congregations. 

But  I am  pleading  that  while  we  are  caring  for 
the  home  church  we  should  not  fail  to  co-operate 
with  our  sister  churches  in  planting  and  maintain- 
ing churches  out  upon  the  frontier  and  in  our 
great  cities.  Such  churches  are  the  children  of 
the  home  churches  and  should  be  supported  as  chil- 
dren are  supported,  from  the  home  base,  until  they 
arrive  at  maturity  and  become  self  supporting. 

We  can  hope  to  extend  the  Kingdom  abroad 
when  we  more  adequately  extend  it  in  the  Home- 
land. We  must  bring  about,  somehow,  a spiritual 
regeneration  of  the  individual  Christian  here  at 
home  by  a return  to  prayer  and  personal  evan- 
gelism, and  begin  adequately  to  extend  the  King- 
dom into  the  ‘‘uttermost  parts.”  This  has  to  do 
with  more  than  money,  for  money  is  the  cheapest 
thing  we  can  give.  More  persons,  it  is  true,  must 
be  willing  to  give  money,  but  the  need  of  those  who 
will  give  service  is  the  greatest  need.  The  example 
of’  men  and  women  of  wealth  and  refinement  who 
are  engaging  in  charitable,  eleemosynary,  and  mis- 
sionary work  at  home  and  abroad  is  worthy  of 
comment.  If  only  this  same  spirit  would  seize  the 
heart  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child  who  claims 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  whole  world  would 
be  evangelized  in  this  generation.  We  must  get 


SPIRITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


31 


down  upon  our  knees  about  this  proposition  and 
make  a material  increase  in  the  amount  of  money 
we  give,  and  also  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
young  men  and  women  giving  themselves  to  the 
ministry  of  Christ  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  report  of  some  of  the  Prot* 
estant  bodies  shows  very  slight 
gains  in  the  number  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sionaries during  the  last  ten  years  and  so  far  as 
America  is  concerned  the  situation  as  regards  the 
ministry  in  many  Protestant  Churches  is  startling 
if  not  indeed  alarming.  The  Northern  Presbyter- 
ian Assembly  at  Atlanta,  1913,  received  a report 
to  the  effect  that  1,000  more  ministers  are  needed 
to  man  the  churches  of  that  denomination  alone  in 
the  United  States  at  the  present  time. 

The  Disciples  of  Christ  report  6,016  ministers  to 
serve  9,905  congregations,  and  a loss  of  680 
preachers  in  three  years.  Similar  shortage  exists 
in  nearly  all  other  Protestant  communions  so  that 
it  is  well  within  the  lithit  to  say  that  there  is  need 
in  the  ministerial  field  of  at  least  10,000  more  min- 
isters than  are  at  present  at  work,  in  order  to  keep 
the  churches  supplied,  to  say  nothing  of  the  in- 
creasing mission  work  upon  the  frontier  and  in  the 
cities  which  is  being  taken  up  by  practically  all 
communions. 

Figures  regarding  the  work  abroad  are  not  so 
readily  obtainable  but  one  Protestant  body  we 
know  of  is  asking  its  Colleges  for  1,000  young  men 


32  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


and  young  women  during  the  next  five  years  for 
the  foreign  field,  and  this  number  is  in  excess  of 
the  anticipated  graduate  student  body  of  about 
Forty  Colleges  belonging  to  that  particular  reli- 
gious body  for  that  period  of  years.  There  is  a 
reason  why  less  and  less  proportions  of  young  men 
and  young  women  of  the  churches  devote  them- 
selves to  the  ministry. 

It  is  advanced  as  a reason  that  the  church  has 
not  had  sufficient  evangelistic  zeal,  has  not  suffi- 
ciently tried  to  keep  itself  in  touch  with  the 
masses,  but  that  reason  does  not  hold  now  for  any 
one  who  has  been  in  a position  to  observe  the  spirit 
of  the  churches  the  past  two  or  three  years  cannot 
but  have  observed  a wonderful  revival  of  evangel- 
ism, especially  of  the  professional  sort.  There  is 
getting  to  be  a more  systematic  organization  zeal- 
ously supported  for  extending  the  influence  of  the 
Gospel  and  reaching  out  in  helpfulness  to  the  non- 
church element.  There  has  also  been  a great  stimu- 
lation of  the  mission  spirit  both  for  home  work  and 
work  abroad  which  is  having  its  effect  on  the 
churches  and  doubtless  in  time  there  will  be  an  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  young  people  who  offer 
themselves  for  mission  and  ministerial  work. 

The  often  repeated  explanation  of  the  present 
shortage  that  young  men  are  lured  from  the  reli- 
gious field  by  the  greater  rewards  offered  by  a com- 
mercial or  professional  life  is  not  a satisfactory 
one.  If  the  right  spirit  prevailed  they  could  not 


SPIKITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


33 


be  tempted  by  such  earthly  rewards.  If  they  have 
been  so  won  away  (and  truths  compels  the  state- 
ment that  many  promising  young  people  have  been 
led  into  commercial  life  because  the  church  failed 
to  lead  them  the  other  way),  the  fault  primarily 
has  been  that  the  church  itself  is  letting  the  spirit- 
ual life  of  the  congregation  reach  a very  low  ebb. 
The  problem  of  the  ministry  and  mission  field  de- 
pends entirely  upon  these  local  congregations  and 
its  spirit  whether  it  is  able  to  supply  these  vacant 
pulpits  and  the  insistent  demand  for  workers  in 
the  Mission  Field  at  home  and  in  foreign  lands. 
These  figures  should  cause  every  Christian  to  get 
upon  his  knees  and  pray  to  God  for  means  to  help 
remedy  the  situation. 

The  Missionary  Societies  are  help- 
ing to  awaken  the  churches’  con- 
science by  making  easy  the  observ- 
vance  of  special  days  through  the  furnishing  of 
literature  for  sermons  and  exercises.  The  churches 
should  increasingly  observe  these  days.  By  means 
of  such  educational  infiuences  a change  in  the  mis- 
sionary attitude  and  an  increase  of  missionary 
spirit  will  certainly  be  brought  about. 

There  are  hundreds  of  Church 
Schools  and  Colleges  distributed 
over  these  United  States  and  others 
in  process  of  formation.  Many  of  them  have  splen- 
did facilities  and  some  of  them  have  endowment  in 
six  figures  or  more  but  there  is  hardly  a Church 


SPECIAL 

DAYS 


CHURCH 

COLLEGES 


34  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


School  or  College  in  this  country  that  has  its  full 
quota  of  students.  Not  only  should  these  Schools 
be  filled  with  students  from  our  homes  but  money 
and  equipment  should  be  supplied  by  our  church 
people  at  large.  There  is  not  a Protestant  com- 
munion that  would  not  do  well  to  largely  increase 
its  financial  appropriation  for  the  support  of 
Church  Schools  and  Colleges  for  this  reason,  these 
Colleges  have  supplied  the  churches  with  ministers 
and  the  world  with  successful  business  men;  have 
taken  young  men  with  a zeal  to  become  ministers 
and  have  supplied  the  knowledge  that  turned  that 
zeal  into  power. 

Many  of  the  present  day  Church  Colleges  were 
widely  known  by  reason  of  their  graduates  long 
before  the  establishment  of  any  of  our  great  uni- 
versities, in  fact  the  first  presidents  of  a number 
of  America’s  largest  and  best  Universities  were 
ministers  and  it  was  the  Church  College  that  first 
inspired  the  state  to  provide  the  splendid  literary 
and  technical  schools  we  now  enjoy.  Some  argue 
that  the  Church  College  has  outlived  its  usefulness 
and  is  doomed  to  die.  They  say  that  non-support 
and  non-attendance  is  but  the  psychological  result 
of  present  day  tendencies  in  education. 

That  this  argument  is  not  well  founded  will  be 
readily  seen  by  reference  to  the  April,  1913,  num- 
ber of  Religious  Education,  the  journal  of  the  Re- 
ligious Education  Association  which  has  reference 
to  the  Church  College  in  several  of  its  very  splen- 


SPIRITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


36 


did  articles  by  experts  on  Religious  Education.  I 
am  not  attempting  to  bolster  up  the  cause  of  the 
Church  College  because  in  the  first  place  I do  not 
believe  that  it  needs  any  bolstering  up,  and  second, 
an  extended  treatment  of  the  Church  College  idea 
is  entirely  out  of  the  question  at  this  time. 

From  my  personal  investigations  of  Church  Col- 
leges and  looking  at  the  matter  from  a standpoint 
of  the  need  of  a particular  religious  body,  I am 
firmly  of  the  opinion  that  the  Church  College  and 
the  Church  College  alone  must  supply  the  min- 
isters and  missionaries  for  the  service  of  the 
church  and  humanity.  This  does  not  say  that 
our  State  Universities  could  not  do  much  to  over- 
come the  present  ministerial  deficiency  and  I am 
glad  to  note  the  attitude  toward  the  Church  and 
Religion  in  general  now  being  held  by  our  edu- 
cators in  these  great  Universities. 

If  Religion  is  to  progress  it  will  be  with  the  as- 
sistance and  co-operation  of  education,  and  vice 
versa.  In  some  States  Bible  Chairs  and  Bible  Col- 
leges have  been  planted  alongside  the  State  Insti- 
tutions, to  furnish  religious  atmosphere  and  in- 
struction. The  Bible  Chairs  and  Bible  Colleges 
are  doing  their  work  well,  but  it  should  be  stated 
that  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  Protestant  leadership 
still  has  come  out  of  Church  Colleges. 

One  of  the  lately  recognized  func- 
tions of  the  church  is  the  teaching 
of  Social  Service.  Conditions  of 


SOCIAL 

SERVICE 


36  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


life  ewry where  are  far  from  what  they  should  be; 
a readjustment  in  living  conditions  is  sadly  needed, 
that  rich  and  poor  may  enjoy  equal  rights  to  pro- 
perty and  liberty.  I do  not  agree  that  it  is  the  busi- 
ness of  the  church  to  deal  first  hand  with  these  con- 
ditions— a philosophy  toward  which  many  social 
workers  lean,  I take  the  position  that  the  church 
is  an  agency  for  making  Christian  character,  and 
that  it  is  the  province  of  the  church  to  make  men 
and  women  of  character  and  worth  that  will  in- 
spire the  State  and  Society  in  general  to  do  its 
Christian  duty  by  all  mankind. 

The  great  social  subjects — health,  pure  food, 
housing,  sanitation,  public  recreation,  hours  and 
conditions  of  labor,  wages,  etc.,  etc.,  should  receive 
the  attention  of  every  thinking  Christian  and  such 
a strong  infiuence  should  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
intolerable  conditions  that  they  shall  be  righted,  to 
stay  righted.  No  question  is  ever  settled  until  it 
is  settled  right,  and  this  is  just  as  true  of  social 
subjects  as  of  other  subjects  which  are  being  forced 
upon  the  consideration  of  the  church  today.  A 
betterment  in  the  spiritual  conditions  within  the 
church  will  go  far  toward  an  adjustment  of  social 
conditions  without  the  church  and  toward  remov- 
ing the  criticism  that  the  church  is  not  concerning 
itself  with  social  service. 

As  a single  illustration  of  the  need  of  social  bet- 
terment, take  the  subject  of  divorce.  The  rapid 
growth  of  the  divorce  evil  is  one  of  the  gravest  con- 


SPIEITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


8Y 


ditions  confronting  the  church  in  America  at  the 
present  time.  Let  me  quote  from  a report  made  at 
the  University  of  Missouri  in  April,  1913. 

“Family  life  in  the  United  States  is  more  un- 
stable than  in  any  country  or  nation  of  the  Chris- 
tian world,”  said  Prof.  Charles  Ellwood  in  his  lec- 
ture on  the  divorce  evil  to  his  sociology  students 
of  the  University  of  Missouri.  “The  number  of 
divorces  granted  in  this  country,  according  to  the 
latest  statistics  which  sociologists  have  at  their  dis- 
posal, is  sixty-eight  thousand  in  1905,  when  the 
population  was  85  million.  In  the  whole  of  Can- 
ada in  the  same  period  of  time,  only  thirty-three 
divorces  were  granted. 

In  France  the  rate  is  one  divorce  in  every  thirty 
marriages;  in  Germany  one  divorce  to  every  forty- 
four  marriages;  in  Switzerland,  where  the  worst 
conditions  of  any  European  country  prevail,  there 
is  one  divorce  to  every  twenty-two  marriages.  Eng- 
land shows  the  smallest  number  of  legal  separations 
after  marriage,  one  divorce  to  every  four  hundred 
marriages. 

“The  conditions  on  which  reason  for  divorce  is 
conceded  and  granted,  however,  are  so  severe  in 
England  that  it  might  seem  unjust  to  judge  the 
high  rate  of  divorce  in  this  country  too  harshly. 

“The  statement  that  the  United  States  is  far  in 
the  lead  in  the  matter  of  legal  separations  should 
not  be  accredited  to  me  unvarnished.  In  my  dis- 


38  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


cussion  I shall  amend  the  statement  with  a consid- 
eration of  the  divorce  problem  by  states. 

“The  State  of  Washington  has  the  highest  rate 
in  the  United  States,  one  divorce  to  each  five  mar- 
riages. Oregon  and  Montana  grant  divorces  at 
the  rate  of  one  to  every  five  and  a half  marriages. 
In  Texas,  Arkansas,  Kansas,  and  Missouri,  the 
states  having  the  next  highest  rate,  the  average  is 
one  out  of  every  eight  marriages.  And  so  the  rate 
decreases  as  we  move  toward  the  Eastern  States, 
until  we  have  as  the  average  for  the  United  States, 
one  divorce  to  every  twelve  marriages  in  1905. 
The  rate  probably  does  not  vary  much  from  that 
now,  but  there  are  no  later  authentic  statistics  just 
now  ready  for  consideration. 

“Some  cities  have  even  higher  divorce  rates  than 
that  of  the  State  of  Washington.  Kansas  City, 
Mo.,  had  an  average  of  one  in  four  marriages  and 
San  Francisco,  Cal.,  had  one  in  every  three  mar- 
riages, according  to  the  United  States  Census  Bul- 
letin of  1903. 

^‘But  conditions  in  the  Kansas  City  divorc.e  mill 
are  gradually  growing  better,  thanks  to  the  work 
of  W.  W.  Wright,  a young  lawyer  of  that  city.  In 
1911,  the  rate  was  one  divorce  to  every  three  and 
a half  marriages.  Since  the  divorce  proctor  has 
been  at  work  trying  to  solve  the  evil,  the  divorce 
rate  has  dropped  to  one  legal  separation  out  of 
every  eight  marriages. 

“Such  conditions  in  Kansas  City  are  hardly 


SPIRITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


39 


traceable  to  the  existence  of  the  so-called  “divorce 
colony.’’  As  a matter  of  fact,  the  number  of  di- 
vorces increases  three  times  as  fast  as  the  popu- 
lation and  has  done  so  for  the  last  twenty  years. 
There  have  been  almost  one  million  divorces  grant- 
ed in  that  time.  It  has  been  estimated  by  Profes- 
sor Wilcox  that,  if  the  present  rate  increases,  one- 
fourth  of  all  marriages  will  end  in  divorce  by  1950, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  century,  or  beginning  of  the 
twenty-first  century,  half  the  marriages  in  the 
United  States  will  result  in  legal  separations. 

“There  is  no  reason  for  believing 
EDUCATION  such  Conditions  can  be  overcome 

or  even  present  conditions  checked  and 
bettered.  Divorce  and  instability  of  the  family 
characterize  the  American  people  more  than  any 
other  civilized  Christian  nation.  We  must  look  to 
education  for  betterment  of  the  conditions.” 

This  is  one  of  the  great  fields  for  social  service, 
and  one  into  which  the  church  should  not  fail  to 
go,  and  go  quickly.  The  united  church  must  utter 
its  loud  protest  against  the  legalized  divorce,  plac- 
ing the  same  restrictions  upon  the  granting  of  a 
divorce  decree  that  Jesus  placed  upon  it,  and  must 
pray  for  a divine  appreciation  of  the  home  and  the 
family.  The  effect  of  such  a united  protest  would 
be  that  the  legislature  and  courts  would  revamp 
their  code  and  unnecesary  divorces  would  not  be 
granted.  Instead  of  the  court  room,  judge  and 
jury,  let  us  advocate  the  church,  the  minister  and 


40  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


prayer,  I believe  this  prescription  will  relieve 
more  cases  of  strained  domestic  relations  than  all 
the  legal  antidotes  in  the  land. 

In  support  of  this  position  I wish  to  quote  Mr, 
W,  W,  Wright,  Kansas  City’s  capable  and  efficient 
divorce  proctor; 

‘‘Married  persons  who  attend  church  do  not  fig- 
ure in  divorce  court  proceedings,”  The  records  of 
the  divorce  proctor,  W,  W,  Wright,  show  few  cases 
in  which  church  attendants  have  filed  proceedings 
in  the  court.  And  each  time  that  they  have,  a 
reconciliation  has  been  effected,  and  the  applica- 
tion for  the  divorce  was  withdrawn, 

Mr,  Wright  told  that  to  a men’s  Sunday  school 
class  of  the  Mellier  Place  Presbyterian  Church,  of 
Kansas  City,  recently.  He  had  traced  the  basic 
causes  of  divorces  to  two  grounds,  immorality  and 
economic  problems.  Almost  80  per  cent,  of  them, 
he  said,  were  caused  by  immorality, 

“The  church  and  its  allied  interests  offers  the 
only  remedy  for  the  divorce  evil,”  he  continued, 
“The  court  of  law  cannot  solve  it — it  is  not  a 
moral  agent,” 

To  sum  it  all  up,  if  the  church  is  to 
SUMMARY  ijggQjjjg,  spiritually  efficient,  the  officers 
of  our  congregations  must  do  their  Christian  duty 
in  the  matter  of  oversight  and  leadership,  and 
there  must  be  a return  to  prayer,  both  in  the 
church  and  in  the  home,  on  the  part  of  professing 
Christians,  an  increase  in  church  attendance 


SPIRITUAL  EFFICIENCY 


41 


among  professing  Christians,  more  people  profess- 
ing their  faith  in  Christ,  an  increased  support  of 
the  missionary  and  benevolent  enterprises  of  the 
church,  attention  to  social  conditions,  a recruited 
ministry  at  home  and  abroad,  a loud  and  continued 
protest  at  the  divorce  evil,  and  adequate  support 
of  Christian  Education. 

These,  with  all  their  attending  influences  for 
good,  appear  to  me  to  be  at  the  foundation  of  the 
structure  called  the  church,  and  when  the  evils  are 
eradicated,  and  the  omissions  supplied,  success 
will  attend  our  endeavors.  The  spiritually  ef- 
flcient  church  is  the  one  that  calls  its  people  to 
prayer  about  the  affairs  of  the  Kingdom  and  in- 
spires its  members  to  prayer  daily.  It  is  the 
church  that  calls  the  people  to  attach  themselves 
to  Jesus  Christ  and  to  be  His  disciples ; that  teaches 
its  people  to  love  the  services  of  the  church,  be- 
cause there  they  receive  spiritual  power. 

The  spiritually  efficient  church  is  the  one  that 
prays  for  and  works  with  the  members  of  its  own 
families,  and  the  men  and  women  and  children  of 
the  community,  to  confess  their  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  the  church  that  has  officers  who  love 
God  and  man  and  are  willing  to  give  time  and 
money  toward  the  realization  of  the  aims  of  the 
Gospel. 

It  is  the  church  that  lifts  from  the  shoulders  of 
the  minister  all  business  affairs,  giving  him  time 
for  study,  and  for  prayer,  money  for  books,  and 


42  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


music,  and  travel,  so  that  he  may  indeed  become 
the  great  spiritual  leader  the  minister  always 
should  be;  it  is  the  church  that  realizes  the  mis- 
sion of  the  congregation  in  its  own  community,  the 
city,  the  state,  the  nation,  and  the  world,  and  goes 
about  that  mission  with  zeal  and  determination  to- 
ward its  accomplishment;  it  is  the  church  that  is 
vitally  concerned  in  making  conditions  of  life 
everywhere  more  tolerable,  the  church  that  believes 
that  every  man,  woman  and  child  has  a right  to  the 
free  and  unrestricted  pursuit  of  happiness,  and 
that  everyone  should  have  at  least  an  opportunity 
to  enjoy  life  in  the  way  God  intended  His  children 
should  here  upon  earth. 

When  this  day  is  ushered  in,  the  day  of  doubt 
about  the  church  being  the  greatest  institution 
upon  earth  will  disappear,  and  in  its  place  will 
come  the  confident  acclaim  that  the  church  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  only  institution  that  can  salve  the  sore 
hearts  and  consciences  of  suffering  humanity,  and 
then  will  it  be  universally  accepted  that  Jesus  is 
the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living  God. 


II 


BUSINESS  EFFICIENCY 

IN  this  treatment  I take  the  position  that  the 
church  is  inefficient  in  the  handling  of  its  busi- 
ness enterprises,  and  I shall  hope  to  show  just 
wherein  the  failure  lies.  It  is  my  purpose  to  show 
also  that  the  church  can  he  efficient  in  the  han- 
dling of  its  business  affairs,  and  that  it  will  be  ef- 
ficient if  modern  commercial  methods  are  applied 
to  the  business  transactions  of  the  church. 


In  the  beginning  let  us  have  an 
understanding  of  the  term  ‘‘ef- 
ficiency.” Efficiency  may  be  said 


DEFINITION 
OF  “EFFICIENCY” 


to  be  the  effective  and  economical  application  of 
power  to  the  accomplishment  of  a given  work.  Ef- 
ficiency is  the  watchword  of  our  new  century.  It 
is  a matter  of  common  knowledge  that  during  re- 
cent years  commercial  organizations  have  been 
carefully  studying  the  problem  of  higher  efficiency ; 
as  a result  they  are  eliminating  waste  and  lost  mo- 
tion and  preventing  overlapping  and  interference. 

But  those  of  us  who  have  been  charged  with  the 
operation  of  the  church’s  business  have  not  been 
applying  these  principles  thereto,  and  so  the 
church  finds  itself  at  this  moment  inefficient,  meas- 
ured by  the  business  standards  of  the  twentieth 
century.  The  church  is  the  loosest  business  or- 
ganization that  we  know  of  to-day.  It  has  so  many 


43 


44  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


valuable  facilities  that  are  not  used  to  the  fullest 
possible  extent,  so  much  valuable  material  that  is 
constantly  wasted,  so  many  loose  connections  and 
imperfect  adjustments,  that  its  energy  has  been 
largely  dissipated  in  a great  noise  and  sputter,  pro- 
ducing little  of  what  the  world  calls  “real  goods.” 

It  is  peculiar  that  in  such  an  age  as  this  we 
should  find  in  the  average  congregation  men  who 
are  financially  successful,  who  have  system  and 
dispatch  in  every  department  of  their  own  busi- 
ness, who  yet  allow  the  financial  and  business  af- 
fairs of  the  church  to  drift  along  with  very  little 
plan  or  organization,  and  no  effort  at  system. 
These  men  do  not  compose  the  90  per  cent,  of  man- 
kind that  die  insolvent — not  they.  They  are  the 
10  per  cent,  of  mankind  that  are  sufficiently  solvent 
to  pay  their  honest  debts.  They  are  the  men  whose 
energy  and  devotion  to  business  have  brought  them 
success.  They  may  even  realize  that  60  per  cent. 
of  the  failures  are  caused  by  lack  of  capital  and 
incompetence,  and  that  neglect  of  business  causes 
more  failures  than  competition.  Yet  these  same 
men,  even  when  officially  responsible  for  the  affairs 
of  the  congregation,  let  the  religious  enterprise 
fail  in  a business  way. 

How  few  realize  that  failure  at  the 
business  end  of  the  church  is  largely 


CAUSES  OF 
FAIIUEE 


due  to  neglect?  All  other  causes  com- 
bined do  not  outweigh  this  source  of  such  failure. 
Some  churches,  like  some  mercantile  houses,  fail 


BUSINESS  EEEICIENCY 


45 


because  of  competition.  Once  in  a while  a church 
fails  because  of  extravagance.  I have  seen  a few 
such  in  my  travels.  But  the  main  cause  of  failure 
in  the  church,  I repeat,  is  neglect  of  its  business 
side. 

Here  is  the  business  of  the  church  carried  on 
by  men  who  are  supposedly  directed  by  God,  and 
failing  for  lack  of  method.  I am  told  by  those  who 
can  speak  with  authority  upon  “church  troubles” 
that  these  are  more  often  due  to  some  failure  in 
the  business  management  of  the  church  than  to  all 
other  causes  combined.  I am  of  the  opinion  that 
many  of  our  churches  need  a good  “row”  if  thereby 
their  business  affairs  could  be  shaken  up. 


But  how  and  where,  you  ask, 
is  neglect  found  to  be  the  cause 
of  failure?  First,  there  is  neg- 


THE  OVERWORKED 
MINISTER 


lect  on  the  minister’s  part.  He  is  neglecting  his 
spiritual  leadership.  Upon  investigation  we  find 
that  his  time  is  taken  up  with  the  business  manage- 
ment of  the  church;  in  many  instances  his  time 
is  employed  at  clerical  work  and  pounding  a type- 
writer. 

Imagine,  if  you  can,  a business  corporation  that 
keeps  its  head  men  doing  the  work  of  clerks  and 
stenographers ! Such  is  honorable  and  requires  its 
own  high  standard  of  ability  (which  as  a rule  these 
head  men  cannot  reach) ; but  they  are  hired  for 
larger  work.  So,  too,  is  the  minister  employed  for 
higher  service  than  a mere  clerk’s,  and  it  is  in  the 


46  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  OHUECH 


interest  of  efficiency  that  he  be  supplied  with  need* 
ed  clerical  assistance.  Neither  should  he  handle 
the  church  finances  or  call  upon  the  members  to 
secure  pledges  for  the  support  of  the  church  and 
its  benevolences.  This  is  the  rightful  duty  of  the 
deacons  of  the  church,  and  I am  convinced  that  the 
minister  ought  never  to  have  taken  this  duty  from 
the  shoulders  of  these  church  officers. 

God  hasten  the  day  when  the  minister  will  con- 
sider his  sojourn  upon  earth  so  short,  and  his  min- 
utes so  valuable,  that  he  cannot  spare  thirty  sec- 
onds for  any  business  duty  that  can  and  should  be 
done  by  another.  Let  our  ministers  demand  that 
the  officers  of  our  churches  care  for  the  finances, 
the  heating,  ventilating,  ushering,  printing,  and 
the  ordinances  of  the  church  as  well,  setting  him 
free  for  study  and  for  leadership,  turning  aside 
from  these  only  long  enough  to  minister  to  the  sick 
and  afflicted,  marry  the  young,  and  bury  the  dead. 
For  only  then  will  our  business  men  take  seriously 
the  handling  of  the  business  enterprises  of  the 
church. 

I realize  that  the  inauguration  of  this  change 
will  not  be  an  easy  task,  for  it  is  as  hard  to  teach 
and  old  congregation  new  methods  as  to  instruct  an 
ancient  canine  in  the  art  of  performing  an  untried 
caper.  But  the  former  will  be  worth  the  effort, 
even  if  the  latter  may  not  be. 

Second,  neglect  may  be  charged 

church.  In  the  ordinary  church 


BUSINESS  EFFICIENCY 


47 


there  is  the  clerk,  whose  duty  it  is  to  keep  the  mem- 
bership roll  and  record  the  transactions  of  the  of- 
ficers and  the  business  meetings  of  the  congrega- 
tion. He  is  also  the  custodian  of  the  records.  Not 
much  comment  is  necessary  upon  the  position  of 
clerk,  you  think ; perhaps  you  will  doubt  the  truth 
of  the  current  report  that  hundreds  of  our  churches 
have  not  revised  their  membership  roll  in  a dozen 
years.  In  such  a church  it  is  possible  to  ascertain 
the  membership  of  the  congregation  only  by  means 
of  the  historical  memories  of  some  of  the  older 
members  of  the  church. 

We  should  look  to  the  clerks  of  our 
churches  to  keep  accurate  records  of 
the  members,  dismissing  those  who 
have  gone,  away,  eliminating  those  who  have  died, 
and  changing  names  where  marriages  occur.  There 
is  no  call  for  the  pastor  to  do  this  work  for  the 
clerk;  if  the  clerk  has  not  the  necessary  comple- 
ment of  brains  to  man  the  job,  get  a new  clerk. 
Often,  however,  the  clerk’s  work  is  not  performed 
with  diligence  and  precision;  the  cause  is  purely 
neglect  on  his  part,  or  failure  to  revise  the  roll  may 
be  to  him  only  a matter  of  following  precedent, 
and  he  may  be  awaiting  a legislative  enactment  of 
the  oflScers  authorizing  a revision. 

If  this  be  the  case,  pass  the  necessary  resolution. 
The  church  membership  should  be  kept  purged  of 
the  names  of  persons  who  are  known  to  have  gone 
away,  died,  or  otherwise  been  withdrawn  from  the 


48  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHHKCH 


THE  CHURCH 
TREASURER 


fellowship  of  the  congregation,  in  order  that  the 
numerical  strength  of  the  congregation  will  not  be 
overestimated  at  any  time. 

The  treasurer  of  the  church  is  con- 
sidered one  of  the  most  responsible 
officers  of  the  congregation.  He  usu- 
ally works  with  the  finance  committee,  collects  the 
money  and  keeps  the  financial  records  of  the  con- 
gregation. Here,  as  with  the  previous  officer,  any 
failure  in  duty  will  be  found  to  be  largely  that  of 
neglect.  We  know  of  a banker  in  one  of  our 
churches,  six  days  in  the  week,  he  is  methodical  and 
accurate,  every  account  showing  its  true  condition 
every  night.  He  is  also  treasurer  of  the  church. 
Recently,  when  he  was  required  to  make  a financial 
report,  he  had  to  ask  the  organist,  the  janitor  and 
the  coal  man  when  he  paid  them  and  how  much. 

Think  of  a man  working  scientifically  at  his  own 
business  six  days  in  the  week,  yet  forgetting  all 
methods  and  dropping  all  system  when  he  took 
up  the  King’s  business  on  the  one  day  left.  The 
banker’s  knowledge  of  business  method  should  have 
been  his  recommendation  for  the  office  of  church 
treasurer.  But  he  was  probably  chosen  because  he 
was  able  to  put  up  the  money  when  collections 
failed. 


This,  I believe,  to  be  a grave  mistake.  So  far 
from  approving  such  a method,  I contend  that  the 
treasurer  should  be  paid  a salary,  not  because  he 
needs  the  money  nor  because  he  is  unwilling  to  do 


BUSINESS  EFFICIENCY 


49 


the  work  without  pay,  but  because  if  he  is  paid  the 
congregation  is  able  to  demand  of  him  a proper  ac- 
counting. The  treasurer  himself  should,  perhaps, 
not  be  bothered  with  the  details  of  the  accounting, 
but  his  salary,  though  small,  should  be  sufficient 
to  employ  a clerk  for  a few  hours  a week  to  do  the 
accounting  under  his  direction.  Church  treasurers 
may  not  be  incompetent,  but  many  of  them  are 
slothful  in  handling  the  business  of  the  Lord  be- 
cause of  the  exactions  of  their  own  affairs,  or  for 
other  purely  personal  reasons.  Putting  the  Church 
Treasurer  upon  a salary  puts  the  King’s  business 
upon  a business  basis. 

We  must  begin  to  reform  our  accounting  by  tak- 
ing the  Church  Treasurer  just  where  we  find  him. 
We  may  train  him  to  love  his  work  and  to  feel 
with  every  entry  in  his  accounts  that  he  is  serving 
the  Lord.  A majority  of  present  day  Church  Treas- 
urers, however,  do  not  feel  this  way  about  it.  They 
regard  it  as  drudgery  to  keep  church  accounts. 
This,  in  itself,  puts  the  whole  financial  system  of 
the  church  upon  an  improper  basis.  The  local 
church  expenses  will  not  be  met,  the  preacher’s 
salary  will  continue  to  be  a disgrace,  there  will  be 
little  missionary  and  benevolent  work  done,  and 
the  church  as  a whole  will  fail  in  its  missionary 
duty  so  long  as  the  accounting  of  the  finances  of 
the  congregation  are  burdensome  to  the  church 
treasurer. 


50  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


NEED  VNIFOKM; 
SYSTEH 


There  should  be  a uniform  sys- 
tem of  accounting  among  the 
churches.  As  it  is  now,  every 
church  has  its  own  system,  or,  rather,  lack  of  sys- 
tem. Of  course,  any  uniform  method  adopted 
would  be  subject  to  alterations  necessary  to  meet 
local  conditions,  but  a form  of  record  book  ap- 
proved by  an  expert  accountant,  who  should  ana- 
lyze the  subject  thoroughly,  should  be  adopted  by 
all  our  congregations.  There  is  also  need  for  some 
one  to  whom  all  church  treasurers  could  refer  for 
advice  and  suggestion  regarding  their  problems. 
It  may  take  a year  or  two  to  develop  such  a system 
and  get  it  to  working,  but  it  should  be  started  at 
once. 


Among  the  committees  usually 
THE  CHURCH  found  upon  the  Boards  of  church  of- 
COMMITTEE  ^cers  is  the  Finance  Committee.  To 
this  committee,  more  than  to  any  oth- 
er, falls  the  burden  of  responsibility  for  keeping  the 
wheels  of  the  church  in  operation.  With  the  cessa- 
tion of  work  on  the  part  of  the  Finance  Committee, 
all  wheels  come  to  a standstill.  It  is  generally  the 
business  of  the  Finance  Committee  to  figure  the 
budget  of  the  congregation,  which,  in  the  ordinary 
congregation,  would  include  the  following  items: 
Pastor’s  salary 
Janitor 

Heat,  light  and  water 
Financial  Secretary 


BUSINESS  EFFICIENCY 


61 


Organist  and  music 
Printing 
Repairs 
Interest 

Sinking  Fund  or 
Building  Fund. 

These  expenses  of  the  congre- 

curately  in  advance.  Every  mem- 
ber is  a stockholder.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year 
he  should  know  his  proportionate  share  of  the 
running  expenses  for  the  ensuing  year,  including 
all  these  items.  This,  too,  can  be  figured  annually 
in  advance.  He  should  know  at  the  beginning  of 
every  year  the  condition  of  affairs  for  the  previous 
year  as  well.  The  income  can  be  figured  very  close- 
ly by  the  pledges  and  the  average  of  the  previous 
year’s  collections.  In  addition,  at  the  beginning 
of  each  year  every  member  should  know  his  propor- 
tion of  the  deficit,  if  there  is  one,  and  there  usually 
is.  He  should  be  made  to  feel  an  individual  re- 
sponsibility for  his  proportionate  share  of  the  defi- 
cit and  the  running  expenses  of  the  church.  It 
may  be  argued  that  if  this  is  done  the  larger  con- 
tributors will  fall  back  on  the  average,  but  this 
will  not  be  the  case.  The  larger  contributors  al- 
ready realize  that  they  must  bear  more  than  their 
proportionate  share  of  the  expenses,  and  expect  to 
do  so.  In  fact,  they  are  already  in  the  habit  of  do- 
ing that. 


62  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  OHUKCH 

The  mistake  that  many  churches  make  is  in  al- 
lowing a few  liberal-hearted  people  to  finance  the 
whole  business.  No  one  has  any  right  to  bear  my 
share  of  the  financial  burden  of  the  church,  and  no 
one  can  bear  it  any  more  than  he  can  bear  my  share 
of  the  work  of  the  church.  The  fact  is,  unless  I 
care  for  my  share  of  the  finances  of  the  church,  it 
will  not  be  cared  for,  any  more  than  my  share  of 
the  work  of  the  church  will  be  done  by  another. 
That  thing  simply  cannot  be  done.  I am  the  only 
person  that  can  live  my  life,  and  the  service  of  the 
individual  to  the  church,  financially  or  otherwise, 
is  a personal  act  that  cannot  be  transferred  to  an- 
other. It  is  not  to  relieve  the  liberal  or  wealthy 
member  of  the  church  of  any  obligation  of  his  own 
that  the  expense  of  the  church  should  be  distributed 
over  the  entire  membership  of  the  church,  but  to 
develop  the  talents  of  the  general  membership  of 
the  church. 

The  equal  apportioning  of  the  running  expenses 
to  each  member  would  not,  in  most  churches,  be 
too  burdensome  for  the  majority  of  the  members  if 
they  were  all  to  contribute,  and  if  the  contributions 
were  regularly  and  systematically  made.  If  re- 
sponsibility for  financing  the  church  can  be  more 
evenly  divided  than  it  is  at  present,  it  will  lessen 
the  criticism  that  the  leading  men  and  women  of 
the  church  so  generally  receive.  When  the  major- 
ity of  the  members  sit  back  and  let  the  few  finance 
the  church,  it  is  generally  with  the  sting  of  criti- 


BUSINESS  EEEICIENCY 


58 


cism  of  “wanting  to  run  the  church,”  that  they  let 
them  do  it.  Most  of  these  leading  members  do  not 
want  to  run  the  church,  but  the  fact  that  they  are 
the  largest  contributors  throws  them  open  to  sus- 
picion that  they  will  unduly  use  the  power  which 
they  naturally  hold. 


The  church  must  be  financed  much  as 
a municipality.  Receipts  must  be  esti- 
mated  and  expenditures  figured  out  in 
proportion  to  these  estimates.  The  municipality 
must  have  its  taxes  and  the  church  must  have  its 
pledges,  and  the  church  must  see  that  the  pledges 
are  met  with  as  much  diligence  and  system  as  a 
city  gives  to  the  collection  of  taxes. 

A city  issues  bonds  for  permanent  improvements, 
by  which  coming  generations  will  profit,  but  no 
well  managed  city  issues  bonds  to  meet  current  ex- 
penses. The  expenses  of  a church  as  well  as  of  a 
city  must  be  kept  within  the  natural  income.  The 
church  should  avoid,  if  at  all  possible,  the  securing 
of  large  contributions  from  individual  members  for 
running  expenses.  This  is  wrong  in  principle  and 
almost  suicidal  in  practice,  for  large  contributors 
may  die,  or  cease  to  support  the  church  in  a large 
way  by  reason  of  business  reverses,  or  other  rea- 
sons, leaving  the  congregation  without  the  ability 
to  make  up  the  contribution  by  the  enlisting  of  new 
ones,  or  the  increasing  of  some  old  ones,  as  is  the 
case  when  an  ordinary  contribution  is  discontinued. 

By  far  the  best  plan,  and  the  one  which  has  been 


64  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


found  most  equitable  and  free  from  objection,  is 
for  the  expenses  to  be  distributed  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible over  the  entire  congregation,  large  contribu- 
tions being  asked  only  for  permanent  improve- 
ments. 


Oftentimes  the  men  of  the  church 
CANVASS  either  have  automobiles  or  can  com- 
mand them,  A definite  piece  of 
business,  such  as  the  every  member  canvass,  need 
not  require  much  time  if  alert  business  men,  ac- 
customed to  rapid  transit,  telephones,  and  wireless 
telegraphy,  will  employ  the  same  business  dispatch 
in  connection  with  the  activities  of  the  church. 

In  some  places  the  Brotherhoods  are  taking  on 


the  EVERY-MEMBER-CANVASS  as  one  of  their 
activities.  They  so  carefully  plan  it,  and  employ  so 
effectively  the  principle  of  division  of  labor,  that  a 
large  membership  is  quickly  seen  and  signed  for 
the  church  budget  and  benevolences. 

We  recommend  this  service  to  the  Brotherhoods, 
The  matter  of  collection  of  sub- 

suBSCRiriiONS  ®criptions  should  be  carried  on 
with  the  same  system  used  by  up- 
to-date  business  houses.  We  must  get  over  the 
idea  that  people  may  be  asked  for  subscriptions 
but  never  asked  to  pay  them.  The  expenses  of  the 
year’s  work  must  be  based  largely  upon  these  sub- 
scriptions, and  the  execution  of  the  work  of  the 
church  depends  upon  the  systematic  collection  of 
them  in  full.  This  refers  to  the  local  expenses  of 


DftNVlLLE  JUNIOR  GOUfcGR 


BUSINESS  EFFICIENCY 


65 


the  individual  congregation,  but  the  same  rule  of 
practice  should  apply  to  the  missions  and  benevo- 
lences of  the  church,  which  constitute  the  exten- 
sion work  of  the  church,  or  the  enterprises  of  the 
church  at  large,  and  these  must  count  upon  the 
support  of  the  local  congregation,  just  as  the  con- 
gregation counts  upon  the  payment  of  individual 
subscriptions  for  support,  and  it  is  only  right  and 
just  to  the  larger  work  that  the  same  methodical 
basis  of  collection  of  mission  pledges  be  used. 

The  majority  of  the  members  of  our 
PUBLICITY  congregations  know  little  if  anything 
about  the  condition  of  the  finances  of 
the  church.  Possibly  they  are  informed  if  the 
finances  are  in  difficulty,  but  the  policy  of  publicity 
in  handling  the  affairs  in  which  a number  of  peo- 
ple are  interested  has  not  as  yet  sifted  through  into 
the  church.  We  demand  publicity  in  the  conduct 
of  public  business,  and  this  is  as  it  should  be.  We 
should  also  have  publicity  in  the  conduct  of  the 
affairs  of  the  church,  and  especially  its  finances. 
Every  member  should  know  exactly  what  the 
church  is  doing  financially,  the  amount  pledged, 
the  amount  paid,  the  average  of  the  collections, 
and  the  running  expenses  of  the  church.  Nothing 
should  be  kept  under  cover.  The  members  should 
know  the  amount  of  the  debt,  the  interest  on  the 
mortgage  and  when  it  is  due.  Every  member 
should  be  kept  thoroughly  posted  on  all  these  de- 


56  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


tails,  for  only  in  that  way  can  the  member  feel  his 
full  individual  responsibility. 


In  distributing  the  expenses 
among  the  membership,  each  one 
should  be  made  to  feel  that  reg- 
ularity in  the  payment  of  pledges 


REGULARITY 
BEATS  OCCASIONAL 
LIBERALITY 


is  the  only  proper  way  to  meet  the  member’s  obli- 
gation; that  a dollar  a week  is  very  much  better 
than  $52  per  year.  The  expenses  go  on  every  week 
and  the  man  who  contributes  once  a month,  or  once 
a quarter,  or  once  a year,  even  though  he  is  paying 
his  proportionate  share  of  the  running  expenses, 
is  not  bearing  his  share  of  the  responsibility.  This 
is  especially  noticeable  in  the  periods  of  vacation, 
when  the  members  forget  that  the  treasurer  still 
has  bills  to  meet;  and  they  should  be  kindly  but 
firmly  given  to  understand  that  the  Lord’s  portion 
of  the  income  has  no  right  to  be  spent  upon  their 
vacations.  It  should  be  impressed  upon  members 
that  in  case  of  long  absence  their  contributions 
should  either  be  paid  in  advance  or  sent  in  weekly 
during  their  absence. 


A school  of  business  methods 
should  be  established  in  many 
local  churches.  Such  a school 


A SCHOOL  OF 
BUSINESS  METHODS 


should  meet  weekly  and  every  officer  of  the  church 
and  its  societies  shonld  attend.  A suggested  pro- 
gram herewith  has  been  undertaken  with  success 
in  a number  of  local  churches  and  at  the  Cen- 


BUSINESS  EFFICIENCY 


67 


tral  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  Buffalo,  under  the  leadership  of 

the  General  Secretary  of  the  Association. 

Suggested  Peogram  for  School  op  Business 

Methods  Based  on  Weekly  Meetings. 

First  Week 

Subject — a.  Value  of  an  Adequate  Church  Finan- 
cial Policy — the  Spiritual  Reaction — 
the  Attitude  of  the  Neighborhood. 
h.  Pew  Rental  Versus  Free-will  Offering. 
c.  Institutional  Efficiency. 

Second  Week 

Subject — a.  Knowing  your  Parish.  Application 
of  Scientific  Survey  Methods.  (Illus- 
trated by  charts  secured  through  your 
Home  Missionary  Society.) 
b.  Arousing  a Giving  Interest. 

Third  Week 

Subject — Enlarging  the  Financial  Constituency. 

Promotion  of  a Church  Canvass:  Set- 
ting up  the  Policy,  its  Adoption,  Nec- 
essary Elements  for  Successful  Han- 
dling of  the  Canvess. 

Fourth  Week 

Subject — a.  Budget  of  Church  Expenses — The 
Classified  Expenditures.  The  Sources 
of  Revenue.  How  to  Prepare,  Propose, 
and  Adhere  to  a Budget. 
b.  Endowment  Funds — How  to  Secure 
and  Administer. 


68  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


Fifth  Week 

Subject — Financial  Records  and  Printed  Mat- 
ter— Efficiency  in  use  of  Advertising. 
Church  Bulletin,  Envelopes,  Cards, 
Collection  Notices,  etc.  Bystem  of  Re- 
ceiving and  Disbursing  Funds.  Mak- 
ing and  Auditing  of  Records. 

Sixth  Week 

Subject — Benevolent  Funds — Foreign  Missions, 
Home  Missions  and  General  Benevc^ 
lences. 

Seventh  Week 

Subject — a.  Undesirable  Financial  Methods — 
Plans  that  have  Failed.  Unscriptural 
Schemes.  Inadequate  Methods. 
b.  Opening  of  the  Question  Box. 

As  demonstrating  the  great  advan- 
CASE  NO  1 o o 

tage  of  the  adoption  of  a good  busi- 
ness system  of  church  finance  and  “the  double 
budget  system,”  we  give  the  experience  of  a church 
which  reports  in  and  Missions.^’ 

The  congregation  raised, 
the  way  in  previous  to  the  adoption  of 

these  methods  by  all  means, 
including  some  envelope  subscriptions,  special  col- 
lections, “pay  socials,”  etc.,  for  current  expenses 
f2,098,  and  for  benevolences  $173,  or  a total  of 
$2,271,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  employed  a 
man  to  take  special  subscriptions  to  escape  a deficit 
of  several  hundred  dollars. 


BUSINESS  EFFICIENCY 


69 


The  officers  in  general  meeting  in- 

WAY 

OUT  troduced  a radical  change.  The  double 
system  with  weekly  duplex  envelopes 
was  adopted  and  applied  to  the  entire  congrega- 
tion, including  the  Sunday  school,  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society,  the  Ladies’  Aid  Society,  and  the 
Missionary  Society.  All  treasuries  were  abolished 
except  the  treasury  of  the  congregation  for  current 
expenses  and  the  treasury  for  benevolence.  This 
was  done  with  the  approval  of  all  the  organiza- 
tions. Every  member  of  each  auxiliary  organiza- 
tion was  asked  for  a definite  subscription  for  the 
current  expenses  and  for  benevolences.  With  a 
roll  of  only  203,  the  financial  secretary  has  per- 
sonal accounts  with  235  persons.  The  following 
rules  were  adopted: 

1st.  All  bills  of  expense  incurred  by  auxiliary 
organizations  shall  be  O.  K.’d  by  the  proper  offi- 
cers and  transmitted  to  the  secretary  of  the  Board 
within  fifteen  days  after  the  time  they  are  incurred. 

2nd.  All  regular  expenses  of  the  congregation 
and  of  all  auxiliary  organizations,  together  with 
all  regular  benevolences  having  been  provided  for 
in  the  annual  budget,  no  person  or  organization 
shall  solicit  subscriptions  or  raise  money  by  any 
direct  or  indirect  methods  among  the  members  of 
the  congregation  for  any  purpose  except  by  the 
special  permission  of  the  Board. 

3rd.  All  bills  shall  be  paid  within  thirty  days. 


60  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


even  if  money  must  be  borrowed  at  the  bank  to 
pay  them. 

For  current  expenses  the  sum  of  |3,391 
EESTjiTS  raised,  leaving  a balance  of  $127.50 

in  the  bank  after  all  bills  were  paid. 
For  benevolences  $530  was  contributed,  making  a 
total  of  $4,048  against  $2,271,  for  the  year  pre- 
vious, or  an  advance  of  $1,777.  All  old  bills  were 
paid,  the  church  edifice  was  repaired,  and  pastor’s 
salary  was  increased  by  $500  over  any  amount  paid 
before,  and  there  was  not  a month,  even  in  mid- 
summer, when  there  was  not  sufficient  money  in 
the  bank  to  pay  all  bills  due. 

Though  this  is  called  ‘‘the  double  budget  sys- 
tem,” because  in  securing  subscriptions  and  in  col- 
lecting them  a difference  is  made  between  current 
expenses  and  benevolences  and  a pledge  is  asked 
for  each,  this  really  is  a unified  budget  system. 
There  is  only  one  offering  and  that  is  received 
every  Sunday  and  for  every  cause  of  the  Church. 
The  only  special  collection  was  for  China  famine 
relief.  This  totaled  $56.  There  are  only  two  treas- 
urers instead  of  many.  A deduction  of  10  per 
cent,  is  made  from  the  benevolent  collections  for 
the  emergency  fund  to  be  disposed  of  by  the  Board 
to  meet  special  calls.  The  balance  is  divided  among 
the  Boards  on  the  basis  suggested  by  the  National 
Assembly.  The  increase  this  year  with  only  slight 
special  effort  was  over  200  per  cent. 

To  every  subscriber  to  the  benevolent  budget  of 


BUSINESS  EFFICIENCY 


61 


ten  cents  a week,  the  missionary  magazine  of  the 
church  is  sent  free.  By  this  method,  fifty  copies 
are  taken  where  before  there  were  none.  To  each 
subscriber  of  thirty-five  cents  a week  one  of  the 
weekly  church  papers  is  sent,  thus  giving  a larger 
subscription  list  to  the  church  weeklies  than  at 
any  previous  time  in  the  history  of  the  church. 
The  midweek  service  is  increased  threefold  in  aver- 
age attendance.  The  increased  attendance  at  the 
regular  Sunday  services  is  taken  as  a mark  of  con- 
fidence on  the  part  of  the  general  public  in  the  solid 
worth  of  the  church’s  work. 

Through  the  blessing  of  God  upon  strictly  busi- 
ness methods  this  church  has  entered  upon  a new 
era  in  its  life  and  work. 

The  following  is  the  report  of  Kev. 
oAbi  no.  / g Miller,  Pastor  of  the  Richmond 
Avenue  Church  of  Christ  (Disciples)  of  Buffalo, 
covering  the  first  term  of  the  Church  School  of 
that  congregation. 

Church  School  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

At  the  graduating  exercises  eighty  members  of 
the  church  received  diplomas  and  twenty  others 
were  conditioned  and  will  receive  certificates  on 
completing  the  course.  The  school  was  conducted 
on  successive  Wednesday  evenings  during  October 
and  November.  It  was  a school  of  practice  and 
efficiency.  The  course  consisted  of  sixteen  lectures 
on  subjects  pertaining  to  practical  church  life  and 


62  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


work.  The  school  proposed  to  give  the  members 
of  the  church  an  opportunity  to  become  acquainted 
with  all  the  methods  of  work  promoted  by  the 
church.  It  was  a “technical”  school  to  prepare  the 
members  for  intelligent  co-operation  in  all  depart- 
ments of  church  activity. 

The  following  courses  were  offered : 

Church  Finance. 

This  included  instruction  in  the  development  of 
methods  in  the  local  church ; an  exhibit  of  the  sys- 
tems employed  by  the  Finance  Committee  and  the 
church  treasurer ; the  method  of  finance  in  the  Bi- 
ble School ; the  history  and  methods  for  the  financ- 
ing of  church  building  and  enlargement;  the  pro- 
vision for  meeting  deficit  and  interest;  the  reduc- 
tion of  mortgage,  etc. 

Church  Evangelism. 

A study  of  the  distinctive  beliefs  of  the  church 
and  the  best  methods  of  propagating  them.  The 
duty  of  the  church  to  the  unsaved  of  the  commun- 
ity. Personal  evangelism  in  the  city  and  through 
the  Bible  School. 

Missions. 

A study  of  the  missionary  enterprises  of  the  local 
church.  The  support  of  the  church’s  missionaries 
at  home  and  abroad.  The  Local  Charity  District 
of  the  church  and  the  case  of  the  poor. 
Community  Service. 

A study  of  the  adaptation  of  the  church  to  the 


BUSINESS  EFFICIENCY 


63 


local  community.  The  use  of  the  Community 
House.  The  open  church  and  gymnasium.  Sur- 
vey of  the  religious  and  social  conditions  in  the 
neighborhood.  Pastoral  aid  and  neighborliness. 
The  duty  of  the  family  church  to  the  family  com- 
munity. 

The  Bible  School. 

The  Graded  System  and  department  plan. 
Training  of  teachers.  Organized  classes.  Associ- 
ated organizations.  Social  life  of  the  children. 
Scouts  and  Camp  Fire  Girls. 

Church  Polity. 

The  administration  of  the  church  through  its 
officers.  The  duties  of  elders  and  deacons.  The 
duties  of  pastor.  Co-operation  of  members  with 
officers.  Keligious  life  of  the  church.  Importance 
of  public  services,  Christianity  in  the  home,  society 
and  business. 

The  average  attendance  upon  the  school  was  one 
hundred  and  twenty.  The  Preparatory  Course  will 
be  followed  by  the  Church  College  in  which  ad- 
vanced work  will  be  taken  and  persons  enrolled 
will  be  trained  for  specific  work  within  the 
church  and  community.  It  is  expected  that  every 
graduate  of  the  Church  College  will  be  prepared 
to  do  well  some  definite  thing.  The  Preparatory 
Course  will  be  given  each  year  to  the  new  members 
and  these  in  turn  will  be  taken  into  the  Church 
College  for  training  for  specific  service. 


64  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


The  following  graphic  plan  of  finance  is 

y ATTT*^  S 

recommended  by  the  Lo.ymen’s  Missionary 
Movement,  and  is  here  inserted  for  use  of 
ministers  and  laymen  who  desire  to  prepare  to  dis- 
cuss the  scheme  of  finance  in  public. 


Paulas  Plan  of  Church  Finance. 
(1  Cor.  xvi:2) 


P 

P 

P 

P 

P 


EEIODIC 

Worshipful 

‘‘Upon  the  first 

Habitual 

day  of  the  week 

Prayerful 

Cheerful 

EESONAL 

Each  Man 

let  each  one  of  you 

Each  Woman 
Each  Boy 

Each  Girl 

No  Proxies 

No  Merging 

EOVIDENT 

Forehanded 

lay  by  him 

Deliberate 

in  store 

Thoughtful 

Intelligent 

EOPOETIONATE 

Generous 

as  he  may 

Careful 

prosper 

Eesponsible 

Faithful 

EEVENTIVE 

No  Deficit 

that  no  collections  be 

No  Interest 

made  when  I come” 

on  Loans 

No  Worry 

No  Eetrenchment 

BUSINESS  EFFICIENCY 


65 


SUMMARY  Nothing  succeeds  like  success.  The 
church  that  always  meets  its  bills  when 
due  never  has  difficulty  in  obtaining  credit  when 
desired.  Bankers  tell  me  that  a church  note  is  gen- 
erally considered  undesirable,  as  it  is  seldom  taken 
up  when  it  falls  due.  On  this  account  many  banks 
refuse  to  loan  churches  money  for  any  purpose. 
With  the  application  of  good  business  principles 
and  practices  in  local  congregations,  this  unsavory 
financial  reputation  of  the  church  will  be  lived 
down. 

The  church  that  succeeds  in  its  business  affairs 
in  general  will  be  found  to  be  the  church  that  is 
projecting  itself  into  the  community.  It  is  the 
church  that  has  no  financial  load  bearing  heavily 
upon  it,  causing  discouragement  and  heartache,  but 
released  from  these  discomforts,  it  goes  about  the 
Master’s  business.  It  is  the  church  which  is  having 
additions  by  confession  of  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  There  will  be  found  more  than  the  average 
‘‘forty  per  cent.”  of  its  members  in  attendance  at 
the  services.  Its  doors  will  be  open  to  humanity 
more  than  one  day  in  seven  and  its  windows  will 
be  open  toward  heaven.  Its  officers  will  love  God 
and  Man,  and  believe  in  prayer  and  practice  it  in 
public  and  private. 

Men  and  women  will  find  there  the  church  home 
they  have  so  long  craved,  and  it  will  not  be  neces- 
sary for  them  to  go  to  the  lodge  or  the  theatre  to 
obtain  spiritual  sympathy,  for  they  will  find  it  here. 


66  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


Business  affairs  will  not  hamper  the  pastor  of  this 
church.  He  will  be  too  busy  about  the  affairs  of  the 
Kingdom,  and  the  business  affairs  will  be  cared  for 
by  the  deacons.  This  church  will  have  a mission  to 
the  world,  beginning  at  its  very  door  and  extend- 
ing to  the  “uttermost  parts.”  Its  members  will 
take  an  active  interest  in  the  bettering  of  social 
conditions,  striving  to  make  the  chances  for  life 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  equal  to  all  mankind. 

This  church  will  be  seeking  out  its  best  young 
men  and  starting  them  toward  the  ministry  as  a 
life  work.  Young  men  and  young  women  will  be 
chosen  from  among  its  homes  to  represent  the  con- 
gregation in  heathen  lands.  Children  from  its 
homes  will  go  away  to  the  Christian  College  to 
prepare  for  life  and  citizenship,  while  money  that 
the  parents  have  in  abundance  will  endow  and 
equip  Educational  Institutions.  In  brief,  the  mem- 
bers of  this  church  have  time  to  take  their  religion 
seriously,  and  realizing  that  the  Master  called  them 
to  become  fishers  of  men,  they  go  about  doing  good 
continually. 


Ill 

SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENCY 


SOTTl- WINNING 
STATISTICS 


IN  this,  as  in  the  two  previous  papers,  I am  at- 
tempting to  show  wherein  the  local  church  is 
inefficient,  and  I shall  endeavor  in  this  treat- 
ment to  show  wherein  this  inefficiency  may  he 
turned  to  efficiency  by  a “right-about-face”  in  the 
methods  of  evangelism,  pursued  by  the  local  church. 

In  the  beginning,  let  us  inquire 
whether  the  local  church  is  ineffi- 
cient in  Soul- Winning.  The  avail- 
able statistics  upon  this  feature  published  in  the 
early  pages  of  this  treatment  say  in  substance  that 
the  Presbyterians  reported  at  their  Louisville  As- 
sembly in  July,  1912,  that  36  per  cent,  of  their  con- 
gregations had  not  a single  addition  by  confession 
during  the  previous  year.  The  figures  for  the  Bap- 
tist body  show  a smaller  net  increase  in  their  mem- 
bership than  in  births  in  the  homes  of  their  mem- 
bers, while  the  Methodist  and  Congregational  bod- 
ies report  a loss  of  more  than  one-half  of  the  chil- 
dren in  the  very  homes  of  their  members.  Other 
religious  bodies  might  be  mentioned  but  this  will 
be  sufficient  for  the  present  purpose. 

While  I am  neither  enthusiastic  nor  pessimistic 
over  the  situation,  the  prevailing  opinion  at  pres- 
ent is  that  a remedy  is  needed,  and  needed  at  once. 

67 


68  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKOH. 


Here  is  a statement  made  by  Rev.  Lathan  A.  Cran- 
dall, a prominent  Baptist  Clergyman  of  Minne- 
apolis, at  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention  in  De- 
troit, May  25, 1913,  and  widely  quoted  in  the  press, 
which  is  the  authority  in  this  instance.  “A  study 
of  twelve  large  American  cities  shows  that  in  only 
one  of  the  number,  do  the  communicants  of  Chris- 
tian bodies — Protestant  and  Catholic  combined — 
equal  the  non-Christian  population.” 

Dr.  John  Clifford,  an  incurable  optimist,  is  re- 
ported as  saying  in  his  annual  review  of  Christian 
work  for  1912,  “The  outlook  is  dark  and  threaten- 
ing fcr  organized  Christianity.  According  to  the 
most  reliable  data  obtainable,  only  2 per  cent,  of 
the  rural  population  of  Minnesota  is  found  in  the 
membership  of  Protestant  bodies,  exclusive  of  Luth- 
erans, and  only  15  per  cent,  of  the  population  is 
identified  with  the  churches  of  all  Christian  faiths.” 

All  over  America  comparatively  few  men  have 
ever  confessed  Christ.  This  statement  in  itself  is 
appalling.  With  22,000,000  Protestant  communi- 
cants in  America,  there  was  an  increase  of  only 
450,000  reported  last  year,  which  is  less  than  the 
net  increase  in  our  population.  In  one  of  the  larg- 
est churches  in  Kansas  City  recently  the  minister 
made  the  statement  in  a sermon,  that  there  had 
been  less  than  thirty  confessions  of  faith  in  his 
church  of  several  thousand  members  during  the  last 
year.  I repeated  this  statement  to  the  minister  of 
another  of  Kansas  City’s  large  churches  with  a 


SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENCY 


69 


membership  of  nearly  a thousand,  and  he  took  down 
his  record  and  found  only  eleven  confessions  in  the 
six  months  of  his  pastorate.  I am  of  the  opinion 
that  the  two  records  cited  are  above  the  average. 
If  we  were  permitted  to  have  annual  reports  from 
our  churches,  many  of  them  would  read  something 
like  this : 


PROFESSIONAL 

EVANGELISM 


‘^Sermons  preached,  104;  additions,  none;  dis- 
missals, none;  marriages,  none;  deaths,  20;  loss 
in  membership,  20.” 

We  have  been  largely  relying  upon 
the  professional  revival  meeting  for 
conversions,  and  have  built  up  a sys- 
tem of  professional  evangelism,  which,  in  too  many 
instances,  flourishes  on  noise,  sensationalism,  and 
morbid  excitement,  and  publishes  long  lists  of  con- 
verts, while  the  facts  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
methods  employed  and  results  obtained  are  often 
not  such  as  to  advance  the  cause  of  real  religion. 
Indeed,  it  is  sometimes  argued  that  these  methods 
do  actual  harm  to  the  Kingdom. 

I have  no  quarrel  to  pick  with  professional  evan- 
gelists. If  it  were  not  for  them  it  is  likely  the 
church  would  be  still  worse  off  in  the  matter  of 
converts.  What  I am  attempting  to  say  is  that  the 
principle  of  professional  evangelism  as  an  exclu- 
sive soul-winning  propaganda  is  wrong,  and  that 
we  are  using  improperly  these  valuable  persons 
and  methods.  It  was  never  intended  that  the 
church  should  have  conversions  only  during  pro- 


70  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  OHUECH 


PERSONAL 

EVANGELISU 


fessional  evangelistic  rallies,  (which  is  the  case 
with  many  churches  at  the  present  time)  but  these 
rallies  and  the  evangelists  should  be  used  as  a 
means  of  teaching  our  members  how  to  do  personal 
work.  Our  congregations  are  filled  with  professed 
Christians  and  presided  over  by  ministers  who 
preach  the  Gospel  of  repentance.  Why  should  not 
preacher  and,  people  convert  the  unconverted? 

The  figures  quoted  in  the  beginning 
show  what  a tremendous  work  there 
is  to  do  in  the  individual  evangeliza- 
tion of  America.  It  is  also  true  that  while  there 
has  been  great  increase  in  our  population,  Protes- 
tant America  is  practically  standing  still,  if  indeed 
she  is  not  going  backwards.  Though  we  all  know 
that  numerical  strength  is  not  everything,  yet  it 
is  a pretty  good  index  of  the  condition  of  affairs 
within  the  church. 

That  something  is  wrong,  I think 
hardly  will  be  doubted.  Evidently 
the  methods  of  the  recent  past  are 
not  efficient,  else  this  dearth  in  confessions  would 
not  exist.  That  the  time  for  a change  has  arrived, 
T am  firmly  convinced.  But  to  what  method  shall 
the  change  revert?  The  conduct  of  the  early  dis- 
ciples is  significant.  The  personal  element  entered 
into  their  ministry  from  the  beginning.  No  sooner 
did  they  find  Christ  for  themselves,  than  they  went 
after  others.  Witness,  Andrew  and  John  had  been 
with  him  but  a day  until  they  went  after  their 


THE  rERSONAI 
UETHOD 


SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENOY 


71 


brothers,  Philip  had  been  with  him  but  an  hour 
until  he  went  after  Nathaniel.  The  woman  at  the 
well  listened  but  a few  minutes  and  went  to  tell 
her  neighbors.  This  is  the  kind  of  Evangelism  the 
world  is  willing  to  receive,  and  the  kind  our  pro- 
fessional evangelists  should  teach  the  local  congre- 
gations to  employ. 

The  main  difficulty  in  the  adoption  of  such  a 
plan  will  be  that  our  members  were  not  enlisted 
to  that  kind  of  work  when  they  came  into  the 
church  and  will  balk  at  any  such  proposal.  Now 
that  they  have  attached  themselves  to  the  congre- 
gation, they  will  rule  that  we  should  not  change 
the  order  and  give  them  a ‘^preacher’s  job.”  Prob- 
ably so.  The  fact  that  we  have  been  wrong  in  our 
practice  in  the  past  is  no  reason  why  we  should 
continue  in  the  wrong  one  minute  after  we  are 
convinced  of  that  fact.  We  have  been  long  asking 
ourselves,  “Can  we  win  men  without  distinct  per- 
sonal work/^  and  the  answer  has  been  given  by  the 
statistics  I have  quoted.  It  simply  cannot  be  done. 

We  can  continue  to  hold  any  number  of  meet- 
ings, invent  any  number  of  schemes,  and  pay  out 
any  amount  of  money,  but  we  will  only  fail  to  at- 
tain our  object.  The  only  thing  that  can  win  men 
is  personal  work.  Nothing  less  will  do  it.  The 
pulpit  has  a large  place,  of  course,  but  the  personal 
word  will  clinch  the  preacher’s  message  and  secure 
the  final  decision. 


Y2  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


EXAMPLE  personal  method  will 

OF  DKUMMERS  ^in  has  long  since  been  recognized 
by  wholesale  merchants  in  the  dis- 
posal of  goods.  Time  was  when  manufacturers 
stored  their  goods  in  warehouses  and  waited  for 
the  retail  dealer  to  journey  to  the  city  to  buy  what 
was  needed.  This  condition  no  longer  prevails. 
Competition  demanded  that  salesmen  be  sent  out 
on  the  road  to  personally  press  the  claims  of  their 
goods  upon  each  merchant.  Out  in  our  part  of 
the  country  you  can  hardly  get  a seat  in  a railway 
coach  for  the  presence  of  these  ‘‘drummers,”  who 
are  going  out  in  the  highways  and  hedges  and 
compelling  the  store  keepers  to  buy. 

Politicians  are  not  behind  the  merchants.  They 
are  supplementing  public  meetings  and  the  public 
press  with  the  element  of  personal  work.  During 
the  policical  struggle  between  the  late  President 
McKinley  and  Mr.  Bryan,  it  is  said  there  was  not 
a doubtful  voter  in  the  whole  country  who  was  not 
seen  in  person  on  behalf  of  the  Republican  com- 
mittee. It  was  personal  work  that  elected  Mr.  Mc- 
Kinley to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  and 
it  is  personal  work  that  will  bring  sinners  to  re- 
pentance in  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  idea  that  the  duty  of  soul-win- 
ning  is  the  task  of  the  preacher  only 
jjoj  j } is  widely  held.  Nothing  was  ever 
further  from  the  truth.  The  duty  of 
soul-winning  is  as  binding  upon  the  lay-member  as 


SOUL-WINNING  EFriOIENCY 


73 


upon  the  minister.  In  the  Apostolic  church  the 
laymen  who  were  scattered  abroad  “went  preach- 
ing the  word.”  Pentecost  will  never  come  to  the 
modern  church  until,  as  in  that  first  Pentecost,  the 
business  men  unite  with  the  minister  in  prayer  and 
service.  Our  English  brethren  have  long  since  rec- 
ognized this,  and  for  years  many  business  men 
there  have  been  engrossed  with  the  duty  of  soul- 
winning. 

In  the  Methodist  church  in  England  there  are 
said  to  be  more  sermons  preached  by  business  men 
than  by  professional  ministers.  Even  the  Church 
of  England  itself  has  thousands  of  lay-readers. 
Thousands  of  gospel  sermons  are  preached  through- 
out the  whole  of  the  British  Isles  each  week  by 
business  men.  Neither  England,  nor  America,  nor 
any  other  part  of  the  world  will  ever  be  saved,  if 
the  duty  of  soul-winning  is  left  to  the  professional 
minister. 

The  1912  American  Year  Book 

MINISTRY  places  the  number  of  churches  at 
221,000  and  the  number  of  minis- 
ters at  172,500,  or  an  excess  of  churches  over  min- 
isters of  48,500.  Included  in  the  number  of  preach- 
ers are  hundreds  who  are  temporarily  or  perman- 
ently out  of  the  pastorate  by  reason  of  age,  in- 
firmity, sickness,  being  in  business  or  engaged  in 
evangelistic,  secretarial,  or  other  forms  of  church 
work ; hence  it  is  probable  that  there  are  less  than 
150,000  ministers  who  are  devoting  themselves  ex- 


74  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHURCH 


clusively  to  the  pastorate.  What  does  this  mean? 
It  means  that  there  are  approximately  71,000 
churches  which  either  have  no  regular  preaching, 
or  only  an  occasional  preaching  service. 

Take  it  any  way  you  like,  and  the  situation  is 
disheartening.  A thorough  discussion  of  the  pas- 
torless church  matter  involves  more  time  and  space 
than  we  have  for  this  brief  paper.  But  let  us  see 
what  prospect  there  is  of  a change.  We  will  turn 
to  the  193  Church  Colleges  (including  profes- 
sional departments  of  Universities)  and  see  what 
the  Church  Schools  are  able  to  do  to  remedy  the 
situation.  During  1911  there  were  in  all  Church 
Schools  and  Colleges  combined  10,834  ministerial 
students,  including  men  and  women  preparing  for 
work  abroad.  If  all  these  ministerial  students  are 
persistent,  and  pursue  their  studies  throughout  the 
full  term  of  four  years,  the  Colleges  at  best  could 
only  hope  to  turn  out  2,700  preachers  per  year,  and 
this  is  less  than  the  average  loss  sustained  by  rea- 
son of  death  and  withdrawal  from  the  pastorate. 
The  1913  American  Year  Book  shows  a loss  of  178 
Ministerial  Students  in  Schools  as  compared  with 
1910,  hence  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  situation 
is  getting  no  better.  There  needs  to  be  a change  in 
method,  or  reports  will  show  a larger  loss  in  min- 
isters, churches  and  confessions  in  future  years 
than  has  been  the  case  in  the  past. 

Individual  evangelism  was  the  basis  of  Christ’s 
work  when  he  was  here  upon  earth,  and  must  ever 


SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENCY 


75 


continue  to  be  the  basis  of  the  growth  of  the  church. 
That  we  have  forgotten  this  is  everywhere  appar- 
ent. Why  not,  then,  without  parley,  return  to  the 
method  Christ  employed  when  he  was  with  us? 
Why  not  re-adopt  the  practice  he  pursued,  and 
which  the  Apostles  employed  during  that  first  cen- 
tury when  the  Gospel  swept  the  world? 

The  chief  hindrance  to  the  inaugu- 

TKADITION*  A ^ 

HINDRANCE  ^^tion  of  any  plan  that  deviates  from 

recent  custom  among  us,  is  to  be  found 
in  the  traditions  and  prejudices  of  the  local  con- 
gregation. To  many  a church  member  it  is  posi- 
tive pain  to  part  with  an  old  method  or  to  intro- 
duce a new  one.  There  are  Christians  who  would 
rather  die  than  give  up  an  ancient  established  cus- 
tom, such  as  the  ‘‘annual  revival’^  with  an  evan- 
gelist to  gather  in  the  converts,  after  which  the  con- 
gregation settles  back  into  its  “easy  chair”  to  sleep 
until  the  time  for  the  next  revival  comes  around 
again. 

In  my  opinion  every  church  should  have,  at  least 
once  a year,  special  evangelistic  services  with  a 
“John  the  Baptist”  to  rally  the  people  and  inspire 
them  to  talk  conversion  to  their  neighbors,  but,  I 
repeat,  we  should  not  expect  the  evangelist  and  his 
singer  to  do  all  the  soul  saving.  Slavery  to  yes- 
terday’s ideas  is  the  curse  of  hundreds  of  our  con- 
gregations, especially  in  the  line  of  soul-winning. 
Many  of  our  brethren  are  continually  demanding 
that  church  affairs  move  along  in  the  same  grooves. 


Y6  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


PERSONAL 
WORK— HOW  { 


and  that  we  fight  with  the  same  old  weapons  our 
fathers  fought  with.  Such  a demand  is  as  fool- 
ish as  the  demand  that  the  farmer  of  to-day  use 
the  same  old  wooden  plow  of  his  father,  or  the 
sickle  of  his  grandfather,  or  as  foolish  as  to  send 
an  army  into  the  field  carrying  muskets  with  flint- 
locks or  a navy  into  battle  with  wooden  battleships. 

But  how  is  this  era  of  personal 
work  to  be  ushered  in?  It  is  not  an 
easy  thing  to  get  men  and  women  to 
do  personal  work.  In  the  first  place,  it  seems  such 
a “small’’  thing.  Get  up  “something  big,”  and  we 
will  have  volunteers  by  the  score. 

But  one  who  is  truly  a Christian  should  be  just 
as  willing  to  do  the  simple  things  as  to  do  the  great 
things.  Yet  is  it  not  true  that  there  are  preachers 
willing  to  preach  to  the  multitudes,  and  glory  in 
it,  who  are  not  willing  to  speak  to  an  individual. 
Some  of  us  have  been  Christians  these  many  years 
and  have  never  spoken  to  a soul  about  his  salvation 
during  that  time.  Ministers  and  Sunday  school 
teachers,  elders  and  deacons  there  are  who  have 
never  spoken  to  those  in  their  own  homes  about  be- 
coming Christians.  Very  few  Sunday  school  teach- 
ers speak  to  the  members  of  their  classes  regard- 
ing this  great  decision.  Husbands  are  Christians 
whose  wives  are  not;  wives  who  are  Christians 
have  husbands  without  Christ.  These  relatives  of 
the  church  attend  the  services  year  in  and  year 


SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENCY 


17 


out,  and  no  one  speaks  to  them  personally  about  be- 
coming Christians. 

At  a dinner  in  Kansas  City  early  in  1913  the 
statement  was  made  by  one  of  our  ministers  in  an 
address,  that  a certain  man  of  prominence  in  a 
neighboring  town  had  joined  the  Church,  although 
his  life  was  pronouncedly  wicked.  An  acquain- 
tance speaking  with  him  a few  days  later  men- 
tioned the  fact  of  his  becoming  a member  of  the 
church  and  he  retorted,  “Yes,  I joined  the  church 
to  get  rid  of  them.  They  have  been  on  my  back 
for  months,  until  I could  hardly  attend  to  business 
for  the  interference  with  my  personal  affairs.” 
We  deceive  ourselves  into  thinking  that  asking  peo- 
ple to  “join  the  church,”  is  doing  personal  Chris- 
tian work.  We  are  wrong.  That  kind  of  “per- 
sonal work”  may  be  and  often  is  a positive  detri- 
ment to  the  real  work  of  making  Christians. 

Many  would  do  effective  personal  work,  but  do 
not  know  how.  We  have  been  so  neglectful  of  the 
study  of  personal  evangelism  and  of  prayer  for  the 
success  of  the  Kingdom  that  the  church  is  sadly 
lacking  in  able  personal  workers.  Few,  if  any, 
churches  have  classes  in  personal  evangelism.  Pub- 
lic and  private  prayer  for  the  extension  of  the 
Kingdom  is  not  largely  practiced.  Personal  work- 
ers’ leagues  are  almost  unknown.  The  weekly 
church  papers  print  little  about  personal  work,  and 
leaflet  literature  is  not  distributed  or  read  by  our 
workers  to  a wide  extent.  Our  failure  in  this  re- 


78  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


gard  is  appalling.  We  can  not  hope  to  start  a 
never-ending  campaign  of  personal  evangelism  in 
our  churches  until  we  begin  to  train  our  members 
in  methods  of  personal  work. 

We  must  learn  that  in  order  to  convict  sinners 
and  turn  them  toward  Christ  we  must  have  trained 
workers,  and  the  time  is  ripe  to  lay  strong  emphasis 
upon  the  training  of  Christians  for  personal  service. 
Before  a soldier  can  know  how  to  fight  he  must  be 
trained.  Before  the  battle  is  fought  the  armies 
must  be  assembled.  Our  ministers  are  not  unlike 
officers  in  an  army.  They  are  the  leaders  to  plan 
the  campaign  and  carry  it  into  execution.  Our 
difficulty  has  been  that  we  had  no  army  to  follow 
the  officers  into  the  fray,  and  hence  no  victory  has 
been  won.  Many  of  our  ministers  have  been  asleep 
to  this  proposition,  and  the  church  has  been  headed 
toward  the  breakers.  It  is  high  time  our  ministers 
were  awakened,  and  asked,  “Watchman,  what  of 
the  night?” 

Let  us  then  bring  our  people  together 
into  classes  for  the  study  of  personal 
evangelism.  The  Brotherhood  and  the 
Adult  Bible  Class  movement  present  a way  of  easy 
access  to  the  church  for  work  of  this  character. 
The  Men’s  movement  and  the  Women’s  department 
have  been  laying  emphasis  upon  personal  service, 
but  the  congregation  and  ministers  have  not  very 
heartily  entered  into  the  suggestion.  We  all  know 
that  personal  work  is  hard,  and  that  it  is  difficult 


SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENCY 


19 


to  enlist  Christians  in  it.  This  is  all  the  more  rea- 
son why  we  should  lay  it  heavily  upon  our  hearts 
and  consciences  and  keep  it  there  until  we  act. 

The  Brotherhoods,  the  Bible  Classes,  and  the  or- 
ganizations of  women  are  bound  to  the  church 
through  the  ties  of  the  Bible  School  and  the 
Women’s  Missionary  Society,  but  there  remains  the 
difficult  task  of  giving  these  strong,  red-blooded 
Christians  a program  of  Christian  Service  that  will 
bring  them  out  upon  the  broad  highway  of  Chris- 
tian usefulness  in  the  affairs  of  the  Kingdom. 
Thousands  of  our  men  and  women  need  converting 
from  nominal,  inactive  Christians  into  real,  active^ 
once.  It  is  useless  to  talk  to  men  about  Social 
Service  or  Missions  or  any  other  great  movement 
for  the  uplift  of  humanity  until  you  have  first 
awakened  within  them  a love  for  their  fellowmen 
through  Jesus  Christ,  and  a hatred  of  selfishness  in 
the  human  heart.  We  learn  to  love  men  by  first 
loving  God.  Those  who  do  not  love  God  soon  grow 
cold  toward  humanity.  Our  men  and  women  need 
to  be  instructed  in  their  relations  to  God  and  Man, 
but  we  have  no  opportunity  to  give  most  of  them 
this  sort  of  instruction  because  sixty  per  cent,  of 
the  people  do  not  come  to  church  with  any  regu- 
larity. 

At  no  one  service  do  we  have  over  40  per  cent,  of 
our  church  members,  taking  the  country  over,  and 
the  percentage  of  men  is  much  less  than  that.  The 
Men’s  Movement  and  the  Women’s  Movement  are 


80  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


reaching  the  men  and  women  better  than  the  church 
services  are  reaching  them,  and"  it  is  therefore  pro- 
posed that  these  movements  be  the  agencies  through 
which  this  new  era  of  personal  service  should  find 
an  expression.  The  women  have  carried  on  mis- 
sionary and  temperance  crusades  that  have  added 
glory  to  their  name  and  cause,  and  our  men  are 
awakening  to  the  fact  that  more  is  demanded  of 
them  than  attending  services  and  obeying  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  church.  Genuine  Christian  men  and 
women  respond  to  the  appeal  for  personal  evan- 
gelism when  they  are  shown  how.  John  E. 
Crowther,  Missionary  Expert,  is  author  of  this 
epigram,  “To  know  is  to  Glow,  and  to  Glow  is  to 
Go.’’  In  churches  that  have  classes  in  personal 
evangelism,  the  truth  of  this  couplet  is  readily 
manifested. 

The  church  ought  to  have  a re- 
sponsibility  beginning  at  its  very 
CONTINUOUSIY  doo^s  and  extending  into  the  “utter- 
most” parts.  That  our  congrega- 
tions have  not  had  this  feeling  of  responsibility 
may  in  some  measure  account  for  the  method  we 
have  employed  in  our  evangelism.  Large  flour 
mills,  in  order  to  be  profitable,  must  run  24  hours 
a day,  six  day  a week ; yet  our  churches  have  large 
investments  in  their  plants,  and  expect  to  make 
them  successful  with  an  operating  time  of  less 
than  seven  hours  a week. 

We  know  of  no  business  enterprise  that  could 


SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENCY 


81 


pay  expenses  on  a similar  investment,  with  an 
operating  time  of  less  than  one  hour  a day.  An 
average  of  a few  minutes  a week  would  dubtless  be 
sufficient  for  the  large  flour  mills  to  run  in  order 
to  feed  their  employees,  and  as  long  as  the  church 
figures  on  furnishing  the  spiritual  food  for  its  own 
members  only,  an  hour  a day  may  be  considered 
sufficient.  But  the  responsibility  of  the  flour  mill 
owner  is  not  solely  to  his  own  employees,  neither 
can  the  responsibility  of  the  church  be  confined  to 
its  members  only ; therefore  to  work  the  plant  to  its 
greatest  efficiency  and  to  accomplish  the  end  for 
which  the  church  is  designed,  longer  running  time 
is  necessary. 

The  disaster  which  would  befall  the  flour  mill 
that  would  undertake  to  feed  its  employees  only  is 
no  greater  than  the  disaster  which  has  befallen  the 
Christian  Church  in  confining  its  work  to  its  own 
members.  The  church  is  either  standing  still  or  go- 
ing backwards,  and  how  could  it  be  otherwise  with 
the  members  unconcerned  about  the  King’s  busi- 
ness and  the  plant  shut  down  95  per  cent,  of  the 
time,  and  only  about  one  per  cent,  of  its  members 
on  the  job  seven  days  in  the  week. 

INSTITUTIONAL  would  come  if  the  church  was 

CHUECHES  open  all  the  time,  someone  asks? 

Let  me  answer,  that  in  the  ordinary 
church  people  would  not  come  unless  there  is  some- 
thing going  on — a meeting,  a conference,  or  some- 
thing to  attract.  To  do  this  attracting,  we  are  at 


82  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


last  providing  for  Institutional  Churches,  and  the 
pity  is  that  we  have  been  so  long  coming  to  this. 
The  failures  of  the  Institutional  Church  (and  I am 
told  there  have  been  failures)  have  been  in  the  con- 
ception of  the  place  of  the  Institutional  features, 
such  as  the  gymnasium,  the  cooking  school,  the 
sewing  school,  the  mothers’  meetings,  the  Vacation 
Bible  Schools,  and  the  other  features  of  such  a 
Church.  Too  many  have  regarded  them  as  the  prod- 
uct instead  of  the  machinery.  The  tendency 
has  been  to  put  the  kitchen  ahead  of  the  prayer 
meeting,  the  gymnasium  ahead  of  the  Sunday 
school.  The  spiritual  significance  has  been  lost 
sight  of. 

The  Institutional  Church,  if  properly  utilized, 
will  be  found  to  be  but  one  of  the  avenues  to  men’s 
hearts.  The  Institutional  Church  which  does  not 
have  for  its  motto,  ‘‘The  salvation  of  men  through 
the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ”  ought  to,  and  in  many 
cases  does,  close  its  doors.  The  failures  are  due  to 
invoking  the  engine  instead  of  the  engineer,  putting 
red  paint  and  printer’s  ink  ahead  of  prayer  and 
Christian  Service. 

No  church  has  any  right  to  be  satisfied  unless 
every  last  man,  woman  and  child  in  its  membership 
is  busy  about  the  Master’s  business. 

The  projecting  of  the  teachings  of  Christ  through 
his  church  into  the  community  ought  to  be  the 
highest  aim  of  the  local  congregation.  No  church 
that  is  studying  the  problems  of  Christianity  will 


SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENCY 


83 


fail  to  use  every  means  at  hand  for  projecting  the 
message  of  Christ,  and  the  Men’s  Movement  and  the 
Women’s  Movement,  and  other  recognized  agencies 
of  the  congregation,  are  the  logical  outlets  for  the 
church’s  call  to  personal  service.  The  church  must 
get  back  to  the  fundamental  thought  that  it  stands 
for  the  program  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  should  put 
the  regeneration  of  the  individual  ahead  of  all  so- 
cial betterment. 

The  method  of  Jesus  was  twofold.  Pub- 
METHOD  lie  Preaching  and  Personal  Effort.  We 
are  not  advocating  that  the  ordinary 
church  member  be  turned  into  a public  exhorter, 
although  we  would  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
Christ  gave  in  his  sermon  his  qualification  for 
preaching  by  saying  “The  Spirit  of  God  is  upon 
me.”  Personal  workers’  crusades  often  give  the 
workers  the  inspiration  to  become  public  preachers, 
which  further  and  thorough  preparation  in  a 
Christian  College  will  complete. 

In  a recent  communication  a good  preacher  said 
to  me  “Preachers  are  born,  not  made,”  to  which  a 
voice  within  me  replied,  “Preachers  are  found,  not 
born.”  The  fact  is,  they  are  born,  then  found,  and 
then  made.  Our  churches  are  full  of  them,  waiting 
to  be  found. 

Turn  to  the  Acts  and  you  will  find  that  the  ac- 
count of  every  great  saying  or  work  of  the  Apostles 
is  prefaced  with  “And  being  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,”  they  spoke  or  did  these  things.  The  Spirit 


84  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH 


is  offered  to  us  as  it  was  to  them.  The  Apostolic 
Church  as  compared  with  that  of  to-day  was  poorly 
equipped.  They  had  no  church  buildings,  but 
somehow  the  synagogues  were  filled  with  seekers 
after  truth.  They  had  no  money,  but  somehow  the 
Gospel  was  preached  in  every  land.  Most  of  the 
preachers  were  uneducated,  but  somehow  wicked- 
ness was  overcome.  This  is  the  power  that  will 
conquer  the  world.  The  church  needs  more  schol- 
ars, more  schools,  more  money,  of  course,  but  more 
than  all  these  combined,  it  needs  the  “Spirit  of  God 
resting  upon  it.’’ 

One  of  the  satisfactions  of  this  per- 
THE  BOOK  sonal  workers’  crusade  is  in  the  fact 
that  the  two  movements,  the  one 
among  the  men,  the  other  among  the  women,  are 
founded  upon  The  Book.  Their  message  was  “The 
Word  of  God.”  Matthew  continually  states  that 
Jesus  said  that  this  and  that  happened,  “that  the 
Word  of  God  might  be  fulfilled”  which  was  written 
in  the  Old  Testament.  There  are  no  revivals  in 
Bibleless  churches.  The  church  never  needed  to 
hear  this  truth  more  than  to-day.  The  blind  can- 
not lead  the  blind.  Those  who  have  not  had  the  sat- 
isfying experience  of  familiarity  with  the  Word  of 
God  cannot  hope  to  be  able  to  point  others  to  this 
experience.  If  a man  tells  me  that  Kansas  City 
is  not  an  interesting  place,  and  I discover  he  has 
never  been  there,  his  words  have  no  effect.  I want 
the  testimony  of  one  who  has  enjoyed  the  thrill  of 


SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENCY 


85 


climbing  the  bills  and  coasting  into  the  valleys  of 
that  pretty  city.  If  a man  tells  me  that  the  Bible 
is  not  essential  to  salvation,  and  knowledge  of  the 
Word  of  God  is  not  fundamental  to  personal  work, 
I always  find  he  has  no  knowledge  of  what  the 
Book  of  books  contains.  This  contact  with  the 
Bible  through  Men’s  classes  and  Women’s  classes  in 
the  Bible  Schools  is  a distinct  advantage  to  this 
crusade. 

Not  only  is  a knowledge  of  the  Bible  essential  to 
soul-winning,  but  a knowledge  of  men’s  hearts  as 
well.  A knowledge  of  the  motives,  doubts,  fears, 
passions,  ambitions  and  aspirations  that  sway 
men’s  hearts,  may  be  gained  in  a personal  workers’ 
group.  These  two  forms  of  knowledge  must  be  so 
correlated  as  to  bring  the  living  word  and  the  dead 
soul  into  vital  contact.  The  soul-winner  must  have 
a real  passion  for  souls.  How  much  real  concern 
do  we  ordinary  church  members  have  for  the  souls 
of  the  lost?  I am  afraid  not  very  much.  When 
the  condition  of  our  beloved  unconverted  friends 
becomes  a matter  of  real  vital  concern  to  us,  we  will 
then  begin  to  look  for  channels  for  their  salvation. 
Engrossed  with  pleasures,  they  do  not  realize  the 
importance  of  this  matter  and  never  will  until  they 
see  that  Christian  people  are  concerned  about  them. 

We  Christians  must  put  religion  to  the 

PP  A VPP 

DAILY  fj’ont  and  keep  it  there.  Until  we  do,  the 
unconverted  cannot  be  expected  to  be  im- 
pressed. We  must  place  great  dependence  in 


86  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUKCH 


prayer.  The  history  of  the  church’s  progress  is 
the  history  of  prayer.  However  perfect  the  church 
organization,  however  business-like  her  financial 
methods,  however  eloquent  her  minister,  however 
infiuential  her  people,  her  success  depends  prima- 
rily and  ultimately  on  prayer.  Therefore  these 
men’s  groups  and  these  women’s  groups  should  be 
taught  how  to  pray  and  be  encouraged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  both  public  and  private  devotions.  From 
Pentecost  until  now,  no  great  forward  step  has 
been  taken  in  the  history  of  the  church,  save  as  it 
grew  out  of  prayer.  Behind  all  inactivity,  behind 
the  lack  of  enthusiasm,  behind  all  failure,  there 
lies  one  lack  more  essential  than  anything  else, 
the  lack  of  belief  in  prayer. 

In  personal  work,  it  is  necessary  that  our 
NEBBED  efforts  be  directed  by  well  ordered  plans. 

Spirituality  is  essential,  but  not  the  only 
essential  to  constructive  statesmanship,  in  the  win- 
ning of  souls.  Spirituality  is  what  power  is  to  ma- 
chinery, and  methods  and  plans  are  what  machin- 
ery is  to  power.  Machinery  is  helpless  without 
power  to  drive  it  and  power  is  helpless  without 
machinery.  There  must  first  of  all  be  an  evangelis- 
tic church  life.  The  way  of  salvation  should  be  ex- 
plained in  every  sermon  and  men  and  women  urged 
to  make  decision  for  Christ.  Special  evangelistic 
efforts  should  be  made,  but  soul-winning  can  never 
be  limited  to  those  special  efforts. 

Soul-winning  should  have  a permanent  place  in 


SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENCY 


87 


every  agency  in  the  church,  the  Brotherhood,  the 
Women’s  work,  the  Bible  School  Classes,  the 
Young  People’s  meetings  and  the  pastoral  visits. 
Not  only  should  the  church  have  an  evangelistic 
pastor,  but  the  officers  of  the  church  should  cor- 
dially second  his  efforts  in  evangelism.  As  to  a 
time  for  discussion  of  personal  work,  this  varies 
with  the  locality,  the  character  of  the  people,  and 
general  conditions  surrounding  the  work  of  the  con- 
gregation. It  has  been  found  undesirable  to  at- 
tempt to  discuss  personal  work  during  the  sessions 
of  the  Men’s  Bible  Class,  or  the  Women’s  Mission- 
ary Meeting,  because  that  would  interfere  with  the 
regular  program.  Personal  work  is  something  that 
will  not  bear  ‘^sandwiching”  in  with  something 
else.  It  is  so  important  that  it  should  be  discussed 
at  a session  strictly  its  own. 

In  England  the  Men’s  service  on  Sunday  after- 
noon has  proven  highly  satisfactory.  In  our  Amer- 
ican Churches,  Sunday  evening  for  an  hour  preced- 
ing the  evening  preaching  service  has  proven  to  be 
one  of  the  most  profitable  seasons  for  m,eetings  of 
a personal  workers’  league.  This  meeting,  for  men, 
or  women,  either  combined  or  in  separate  session, 
where  the  physical  arangements  of  the  building  will 
permit,  are  proving  the  salvation  of  the  dreaded 
“Sunday  evening  service”  in  many  a church.  Some 
churches  have  such  small  attendance  on  Sunday 
evenings  that  the  regular  service  has  been  entirely 
abandoned.  The  use  of  the  Sunday  evening  service 


88  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHUECH. 


as  an  evangelistic  agency  following  an  “upper 
room”  meeting  of  personal  workers,  deserves  the 
attention  of  every  minister  and  Christian  Layman 
among  ns.  The  evening  service,  preceded  by  the 
personal  workers’  meeting,  furnishes  an  atmos- 
phere conducive  to  evangelistic  effort. 

No  one  can  estimate  the  loss  in 

TH£ 

XTPPER  EOOM  conversion  of  souls  and  development 
of  spiritual  power  by  reason  of  our 
failure  to  make  this  service  intensely  evangelistic,. 
The  evening  is  an  appropriate  time  to  gather  your 
workers  together  into  the  “upper  room”  where  they 
will  be  altogether,  and  by  themselves,  and  feel  the 
tuggings  of  the  Spirit  of  God  at  their  hearts.  And 
the  evening  is  a desirable  time  to  look  back  upon 
the  work  of  the  week  just  closed  and  forecast  the 
work  for  the  week  just  opening.  At  this  meeting, 
men  can  plan  to  invite  others,  and  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing or  afternoon  accompany  them  to  the  meeting 
of  the  Bible  Class,  and  on  Sunday  evening  bring 
them  to  the  evangelistic  service.  In  some  of  the 
most  successful  men’s  meetings,  every  Christian 
man  is  asked  to  bring  with  him  a non-Christian. 
Why  can  we  not  follow  this  plan?  After  the  plain, 
direct  gospel  sermon,  closing  with  an  earnest  per- 
sonal appeal  to  the  unconverted,  and  an  oppor- 
tunity for  confession  of  Christ,  some  churches  have 
a very  reverent  “After  meeting,”  for  prayer,  testi- 
mony and  confession.  The  tendency  to  haste  is  the 
main  objection  to  the  after-meeting. 


SOUL-WINNING  EFFICIENCY 


89 


The  church  has  been  slow  to  learn  the  lesson,  but 
wherever  the  methods  of  the  '‘upper  room”  have 
prevailed  there  Pentecost  has  been  repeated.  These 
frequent  meetings  of  personal  workers  for  prayer 
and  conference  and  relation  of  experiences  are  the 
best  methods  yet  discovered  for  strengthening  faith 
and  sustaining  enthusiasm.  This  meeting  in  itself, 
without  the  study  of  a text  hook,  or  a reading 
course  will  prove  to  be  a training  school  for  Chris- 
tian workers,  for,  by  comparison  of  methods,  and 
rehearsal  of  experiences,  mistaken  methods  may  be 
eliminated.  Such  a personal  workers’  league  may 
represent  the  entire  congregation,  or  there  may  be 
a number  of  leagues,  representing  the  Brotherhood, 
the  Women’s  work,  the  Young  People,  or  on  the 
other  hand,  it  may  represent  the  entire  community 
of  several  churches,  or  an  entire  city  as  the  case 
may  be.  For  our  own  use  we  advocate  a personal 
workers’  league  for  the  congregation,  the  Brother- 
hood, the  Bible  Class,  or  the  Women’s  work,  one  or 
all,  that  will  meet  for  a study  of  method.  Out  of 
it  grows  a comradeship  in  service  that  strengthens 
the  hearts  of  men  to  do  more  valiant  and  aggressive 
service  in  this  important  business  of  the  King.  The 
pastor  ought  to  have  the  names  of  a number  who, 
even  without  an  added  organization  in  the  congre- 
tion,  are  willing  to  do  this  kind  of  work. 

It  is  impossible  to  overstate  the  importance  of 
this  training  for  personal  evangelism.  There 
should  be  such  an  organization  in  every  church  in 


90  MAKING  GOOD  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHURCH 


the  land.  If  the  world  is  to  be  won  to  Christ 
through  individual  evangelism,  it  is  at  once  evident 
that  such  a training  class  is  necessary.  Such  a 
class  in  every  church  would  engender  a tremendous 
sentiment  for  evangelistic  effort.  The  present  con- 
dition of  our  country  constitutes  a call  upon  every 
minister  among  us  to  organize  his  church  for  defi- 
nite evangelistic  service.  Let  us  begin  now  to  pray 
for  the  consecration  of  men  and  women  for  per- 
sonal evangelism.  Speak  often  publicly  and  pri- 
vately concerning  it.  In  many  places  it  has  been 
found  profitable  to  have  a ‘‘week  of  prayer”  at  the 
inauguration  of  a soul-winning  campaign. 

Let  us  organize  the  men  and  women  of  our 
churches  for  definite  Christian  service.  Where  we 
already  have  them  organized  into  Brotherhoods, 
Adult  Bible  Classes  and  Women’s  Societies,  let  us 
set  to  work  to  give  them  a task  that  is  worthy  of  a 
congregation  of  Christian  people.  Let  us  have  our 
people  praying  about  the  affairs  of  the  Kingdom, 
speaking  to  their  neighbors,  their  sons  and  daugh- 
ters, sisters  and  brothers,  about  their  soul’s  salva- 
tion. Let  us  set  to  work  with  a will,  with  the 
“power  of  the  spirit,”  determined  that  in  another 
ten  years  no  such  history  could  be  written  as  cir- 
cumstances compel  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1913. 
Let  us  pray  back  into  our  churches  the  60  per  cent, 
of  our  members  who  absent  themselves  from  the 
services ; let  us  pray  into  spiritual  grace  and  power 
the  indifferent  officers  of  our  churches ; let  us  pray 


SOTJL-WINNINQ  EFFICIENCY 


91 


into  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  professing  Chris- 
tians, the  great  commission,  ‘‘Go  ye  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  all  creation/^ 
Then  men  will  rise  up  and  call  the  church  blessed. 
Her  principles  will  be  welcomed  as  the  panacea  for 
all  the  ills  of  the  individual  and  of  society.  Her 
doors  will  never  close,  and  she  will  have  a respon- 
sibility for  the  moral,  social,  physical  and  spiritual 
welfare  of  all  persons  within  the  reach  of  her  min- 
istrations. The  sun  will  never  set  upon  her  ac- 
tivities, for  although  her  parish  be  small,  her  work 
extends  unto  the  “uttermost  parts’'  of  the  earth. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


I.  Spiritual  Efficiency 

a.  Prayer  and  Worship. 

b.  Bible  Study. 

c.  Missions  and  Social  Service. 

II.  Business  Efficiency 

a.  Stewardship. 

b.  Business  Methods. 

c.  Church  Operation. 

III.  Soul-Winning  Efficiency 

a.  Evangelism. 

b.  Personal  Work. 

c.  Group  Co-operation. 


92 


BIBLIOGKAPHY 


93 


I.  Spiritual  Efficiency 

a.  Prayer  and  Worship. 

Life  Worth  While.  Atkins,  75c. 

A Help  to  Family  Worship.  $1.00. 

Wireless  Messages.  Broadhurst,  $1.00. 

The  Spiritual  Life.  Coe,  $1.00. 

New  Life  in  the  Old  Prayer  Meeting.  Cowan,  50c. 
The  Church  and  Young  Men.  Cressey,  $1.25. 

The  Greatest  Thing  in  the  World.  Drummond,  30c. 
The  School  in  the  Home.  Hillis,  50c. 

The  Practice  of  Prayer.  Morgan,  75c. 

The  Book  of  Family  Worship.  Nicoll,  $1.50. 

The  Eldership.  Davis,  50c. 

Can  the  Modem  Man  Pray?  Bayley,  lOc. 
Devotional  Use  of  the  Scriptures.  Gibson,  50c. 
Claims  and  Opportunities  of  the  Ministry.  Mott, 
50c. 

Future  Leadership  of  the  Church.  Mott,  50c. 
More  than  Men.  Parkhurst,  40c. 

Marks  of  a Man.  Speer,  50c. 

The  Spirit  Filled  Life.  MacNeil,  30c. 

My  Brother  and  I.  Ainslie,  25c. 

God  and  Me.  Ainslie,  25c. 

b.  Bible  Study. 

Bible  Difficulties.  Atkins,  50c. 

Hints  on  Bible  Study.  50c. 

Topical  Outline  of  Bible  Themes.  Bowers,  $1.50. 
How  to  Teach  a Sunday  School  Lesson.  Carmack, 
75c. 

Education  in  Religion  and  Morals.  Coe,  $1.35. 
All  About  the  Bible.  Collett,  $1.00. 

Modern  Sunday  School  in  Principle  and  Practice. 
Cope,  $1.00. 

Through  the  Bible  with  a Guide.  Holbrook,  $1.00. 
How  to  Conduct  a Sunday  School.  Lawrence,  $1.25. 
Is  My  Bible  True?  Leach,  30c. 

Our  Big  Boys  and  the  Sunday  School.  McKinney, 
50c. 

The  Homeland  of  the  Bible.  MacPhie,  $1.25. 
How  to  Mark  Your  Bible.  Menzies,  75c. 

How  to  Study  the  English  Bible.  Girdlestone,  75c. 
How  to  Study  the  Bible.  Torrey,  75c. 

The  Gist  of  the  Lesson.  Torrey,  25c. 

Who  Wrote  the  Bible.  Gladden,  $1.25. 

The  Bible  in  the  World  To-day.  Barlow,  75e. 
Educational  Evangelism.  McKinley,  50c. 

Training  for  Service.  Monninger,  25c. 


94 


BIBLIOGEAPHT 


c.  Missions  an^d  Social  Service. 

Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress.  Dennis 
(3  vols.),  $7.50. 

The  Social  Work  of  Christian  Missions.  Taylor, 
50c. 

Dr.  GrenfePs  Parish.  Duncan,  $1.00. 

Echoes  from  Edinburgh.  $1.00. 

The  Missionary  Expansion  Since  the  Kefonnation. 
Graham,  $1.25. 

Down  North  on  the  Labrador.  Grenfel,  $1.00. 
The  Incoming  Millions.  Grose,  50c. 

Citizens  of  To-morrow.  Guernsey.  50c. 

The  Modern  Missionary  Challenge.  Jones,  $1.50. 
A Message  from  Batang.  Loftus,  75c. 

Missions  Striking  Home.  McAfee,  75c. 

Where  the  Book  Speaks.  McLean,  $1.0i0. 

Breaking  Down  Chinese  Walls.  Ogden,  $li.00. 
Missionary  Methods  for  Missionary  Committees. 
Park,  25c. 

With  the  Tibetans  in  Tent  and  Temple.  Eijnhart, 
$1.50. 

Christianity  and  the  Nations.  Speer,  $2.00. 

On  the  Trail  of  the  Immigrant.  Steiner,  $1.50. 
Missionary  Achievements  During  Nineteen  Cen- 
turies, Whitley,  $1.00. 

The  Bible  a Missionary  Book.  Tait,  $1.50. 

Men  and  Missions.  Elfis,  $1.00. 

Over  Against  the  Treasury.  Fenn,  60c. 

Decisive  Hour  of  Christian  Missions.  Mott,  $1.00. 
The  Challenge  of  the  Country.  Piske,  75c. 

The  Call  of  the  World.  Doughty,  25c. 

Manual  of  Missionary  Methods.  White,  5c. 

The  Social  Task  of  Christianity.  Batten,  $1.25. 
Selfhood  and  Service.  Beaton,  $1.00. 

Waifs  of  the  Slums  and  their  Way  Out.  Benedict, 

$1.00. 

An  Open  Letter  to  Society — Convict  No.  1776. 
Booth,  75c. 

The  Burden  of  the  City.  Horton,  50c. 
Christianity’s  Storm  Center.  Stelzle,  $1.00. 

The  Working  Man  and  Social  Problems.  Stelzle, 
75c. 

A New  Conscience  on  an  Ancient  Evil.  Addams, 
$1.25. 

Misery  and  its  Causes.  Devine,  $1.25. 

The  Immigrant  Problem.  Jenks,  $1.75. 

The  Challenge  of  the  City.  Strong,  50c. 

Social  Significance  Teachings  of  Jesus.  Jenks,  75c. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


95 


Problems  of  the  Town  Church.  Miller,  75c. 

The  Country  Church  and  the  Eural  Problem.  But- 
terfield, $1.00. 

Daybreak  in  Korea.  Baird,  60c. 

The  Missionary  and  His  Critics.  Barton,  $1.00. 
The  Missionary  Enterprise.  Bliss,  $1.25. 

Fifty  Missionary  Stories.  Brain,  60c. 

Missionary  Eeadings  for  Missionary  Programs. 
Brain,  60c. 

The  Foreign  Missionary.  Brown,  $1.50. 

New  Forces  in  Old  China.  Brown,  $1.50. 

The  Fruits  of  the  Tree.  W.  J.  Bryan,  35c. 
Laymen ^s  Missionary  Library.  (10  vols.),  $5.00. 
Missions  in  the  Plan  of  the  Ages.  Carver,  $1.25. 

n.  Business  Efficiency 

Stewardship — Business  Methods — Church  Operation. 

Eules  of  Order  for  Eeligious  Assemblies.  Barton, 
50c. 

Building  a Working  Church.  Black,  $1.25. 

The  Teaching  of  Jesus  Concerning  Wealth.  Heu- 
ver,  $1.00. 

Eevell’s  Eecord  for  Church  Treasurers.  $1.50  and 

$2.00. 

Principles  of  Successful  Church  Advertising. 
Stelzle,  $1.25. 

Institutional  Work  for  the  Country  Church  Mayn- 
ard, 50c. 

The  Church  in  the  Open  Country.  Wilson,  50c. 
Community  Studies  for  Cities.  35c. 

*A  Comprehensive  Scheme  of  Church  Finance.  Mc- 
Garrah. 

^Successfully  Financing  a Church.  McGarrah. 
*Modern  Methods  in  the  Country  Church.  McNutt. 
*The  Subscription  Method  of  Eaising  Missionary 
and  Benevolent  Funds.  McGarrah. 

III.  Soul- Winning  Efficiency 

Evangelism — Personal  Work — Group  Co-operation. 
Winning  the  Boy.  Merrill,  75c. 

Hints  for  Lay  Preachers.  Meyer,  50c. 

What  Every  Christian  Needs  to  Know.  Pope,  75c. 
For  Christ  and  the  Church.  Sheldon,  30c. 

The  Soul  Winner.  Spurgeon,  50c. 

Boys  of  the  Street.  Stelzle,  50c. 


^Secured  from  Pres.  Board  of  Home  Missions,  156 
Fifth  Ave.,  New  York  City. 


96 


BIBLIOGEAPHY 


Becruiting  for  Christ.  Stone,  $1.00. 

How  to  Work  for  Christ.  Torrey  (8  vols.),  $2.50. 
How  to  Bring  Men  to  Christ.  Torrey,  75c. 

Mshin^  for  Men.  Clark,  $1.00. 

The  Efficient  Layman.  Cope,  $1.00. 

Evangelism  Through  Bible  Study.  Goodman,  25c. 
How  to  Beach  Men.  Hudson,  50c. 

Men  and  Eeligion  Messages  (7  vols.),  $4.00. 
Taking  Men  AHve,  Trumbull,  60c. 

Every  Day  Evangelism.  Leete,  $1.00. 

Studies  for  Personal  Workers.  65c. 

Methods  in  Soul  Winning.  Mabie,  75c. 
Introducing  Men  to  Christ.  Weatherford,  50c. 
Men  Wanted.  Smith,  75e. 

First  Battles.  Atkins,  35c. 

Moral  Muscle.  Atkins,  35c. 

Twice-Born  Men.  Begbie,  50c. 

The  Growing  Christian.  Bredenwolf,  50e. 
Christianity  as  Taught  by  Christ.  Bradley,  $li.25. 
The  Soul  Winning  Church.  Broughton,  50c. 

The  Bevival  of  a Dead  Church.  Broughton,  30c. 
After  Pentecost,  What?  Campbell,  75c. 

The  King^s  Greatest  Business.  Gilbert,  75e. 
Pastoral  and  Personal  Evangelism.  Goodell,  $1.00. 
Quiet  Talks  with  World  Winners.  Gordon,  75c. 
Non  Church  Going — Its  Beasons  and  Bemedies. 
Gray,  $1.00. 

Normal  Evangelism.  Green,  $1.00. 

Ways  to  Win.  Hague,  50c. 

The  Passion  for  Men.  Hallenback,  40c. 

Victorious  Manhood.  Johnson,  75c. 

Modern  Church  Brotherhoods.  Patterson,  $1.00. 
The  Passion  for  Souls.  Jowett,  50c. 

The  Open  Church  for  the  Unchurched.  McCulloch, 

50c, 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


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